FateClass Grail (Discontinued)
by KaleidoSword
Summary: Issei Hyoudou retired magical boy and normal high school student is pulled back to action after problem arise in the small town of Kuoh. Can he solve the troubles while balancing school work and friendship? The rewrite is under the name Scarlet Dragon. Thanks for all the support!
1. The End of the War

"Issei don't die! Please don't die!" A single star ornament with white wings cried as she stared at the boy who laid fallen on the floor. Even though no tears came out, the sheer emotions in its voice couldn't be ignored. "Please Issei."

"Ha… Ruby you finally dropped the chan." Issei spoke weakly. He struggled to breathe and his eyes struggled to focus as he stared at the ornament. "Ruby we've finally retrieved it. The holy grail, the cause of the distortion in this town. Ha… take it Ruby and go. Use mirror road and escape from this reflection."

His heart was missing leaving a gaping hole in his chest. A completely blackened heart was right next to him covered in wispy black clouds that threatened to curse anyone who was near. It wasn't just a miracle, no it was at a level higher than a miracle.

In his right hand he held an ornate staff and in his left he held a golden cup.

"Issei this isn't a time singularity. You can't come back to life when I take this back. You'll die in this realm." Ruby started to sob. "No one will be able to find your corpse you'll be declared missing forever."

"Partner… I'm sorry." A deep voice came from the red brooch. It was a metal carving of a western dragon holding on to a brilliant emerald. "My sins they came to bite you in the ass."

"It isn't really your fault Ddraig." Issei tried to give a comforting smile. "We didn't expect this at all. Many people after all hold regrets in their had their own desire and will."

"I won't take this back Issei." Ruby declared. "I'll make a wish so give me the cards."

"Caster is supporting my life right now." Issei stated. "The moment you use the grail is the moment I die. Even the grail can't bring back the dead. Did you forget Ruby? You told me that when I first met you. Wishing on the grail to save my life wouldn't work."

"No I have a different method. Ruler and Avenger come!" She yelled. "I need you guys now!"

Two cards flew up from Issei's pocket and came to Ruby. The golden grail left Issei's hand and moved in between the two cards.

"Issei I'm sorry you might not forgive me, but I believe that this is the right choice." The grail started to shine brighter and brighter till the boy couldn't see anymore. Before everything faded into light he heard her say something softly. "Issei-chan looks like I messed up again teehee."

"Oh you stupid kaleidostick. Stop it with the chan again." Issei half-heartedly complained as light faded into darkness.

A holy war that lasted for the span of three weeks.

A single boy who was the only participant went on the stage with two companions.

A mystic code created by a great sorcerer and a dragon sealed by god.

Fighting heroes from many different eras, he continued to fight until he reached the prize.

Till he fell due to unforeseen events.

This tale continues on to the aftermath of the war.

When the hero returns to living a life of normalcy only to have it broken again.

 _Kuoh town a recent location that has been of sudden attraction from various factions in the world. A simple town, around five years ago, has become a place that is between life and death. Although it seems like nothing besides the ley lines in the city has been affected by this change. It still doesn't change the fact that Kuoh is now a gray zone._

 _Perhaps this could be a reason why residents of the moonlit world are now attracted to such a town. The only reason why the other factions have not dared to move is due to the fact that the devils claimed the territory before the incident. The current overseers are Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, high class devils who can be regarded as princesses in their realm._

 _Rias Gremory, current heiress of the Gremory clan, carries the name of the Crimson Haired Ruin Princess and is the beloved younger sister of the current Lucifer, Sizerch Lucifer. She may lack the control and finesse her brother has, but she still wields the power of destruction. An ability that one should take caution of. She lacks the ability to fight close combat, but she makes up for it with her various peerage members. Current peerage status is barely completed, but they consist of members with powerful potential or strong lineage in them._

 _Sona Sitri, the heiress of the Sitri clan, currently under the alias Sona Shitori. She is the same as Rias being the adored younger sister of the current Leviathan, Serafall Leviathan. Unlike her sister she uses water-based techniques and forms them into various shapes. She lacks power, but makes up for her abilities in techniques and quick wits. Like Gremory she lacks the ability to fight in close combat, but she makes up for it with her peerage. Currently her peerage is near complete, only missing three pawns and a knight._

 _Movement cannot be made into Kuoh without their explicit permission. Undercover operations may be necessary in order to investigate the situation. The best option is to send a representative to stay in this town to distract them and a spy to perform operations in the shadow._

 _Without a doubt the devils are performing their own investigations, but we cannot let them do as we please. Kuoh is without a doubt abnormal, but the strange thing is is how nothing has majorly changed in this town. Could there be something in Kuoh that is maintaining the city? If then who or what is it?_

 _These question need to be solve in order to figure out the situation._

 _If we can find the cause of it then surely we can retrieve it or convince the person to join us._

 _If my suspicions are true then this will surely be fought over. No if my suspicions are really correct than worst case scenario is that a great war bigger than the three faction war will appear. A war that will surely cause chaos. We must discover the truth soon, in order to see what will happen in the near future._

 **Author's Note**

 **I have no idea what I'm doing by the way. I accept anything, but if you're going to give me flames please be specific about it. To be honest I've seen a lot of stories like these and I'm probably going to do horrible, but who cares. I'm against harems and I have no intention of shipping Sona with Issei. I'm a newbie so I don't specialize in anything yet, but I'm pretty sure I'll suck at romcom.**

 **Also here is the list of the servants I'm planning to use. Don't worry your suggestions will be heard and then ignored for this part.**

 **Ruler: Amakusa Shirou Tokisada**

 **Avenger: Jeanne d'Arc [Alter]**

 **Saber: Arthur Pendragon**

 **Archer: Arjuna**

 **Lancer: Brynhildr**

 **Rider: Astoflo**

 **Caster: Medea [Lily]**

 **Assassin: Hassan of Serenity**

 **Berserker: Cu Chulainn [Alter]**

 **I don't when the actual chapter is coming guys. I'm writing the first draft right now, but it sucks.**


	2. Request from the Child of Light Alter

To boy was standing on top of water, recreating one of the many miracles of christ. He stood in the center of the circular room that was overflowing with the clear liquid. At the bottom of the room was a intricately designed stained glass of a girl. She was reaching the end of adolescence, but retained a youthful beauty that made it hard to tell her exact age. The black dress she wore contrasted strongly with her pale skin and white hair.

He wasn't able to reach the artwork no matter how hard he tried. The water would always push him back up constantly so even now after 5 years he still wasn't able to trace her hair or touch the cold tiles that made up her cheek.

Maybe today he'll make it again. He bent down and slowly put his hand within the water...

"Don't even bother boy. I could tell that you're attempting to do something futile." A man appeared behind him. His blue hair was covered by a hood and billowing from his back was a mix between a short cape and cloak. Most of his upper body was covered in dull red celtic markings. His face was also marked enhancing the color of his bright red eyes. He wore armor around his lower body but it was almost feral, beast-like with the thick tail-like appendage that swayed lazily behind him and red spikes that decorated nearly every inch.

"I should just wait till the time is right, right Berserker?" Issei asked. He gave a glance at the man's chiseled abs with a hint of jealousy. "That's what you cards alway say." He gave glance at his own body, which had very little muscle to it and sighed internally. "I guess we'll start training then?"

The man in front of the boy was a legendary hero in Ireland, Cu Chulainn. Known to many as the Hound of Ulster, he was a legendary berserker who lusted for battle. Known to perform many heroic feats there was many odes and stories dedicated to him. To fight against the strongest was probably his dream, but the man in front of him was...

Cold. Logical. Pragmatic.

Cu Chulainn gave a nod in response

The scenery around them changed. The clear water disappeared and made way to fresh green grass. The dark ceiling disappeared and revealed the bright blue sky. The walls vanished to the show to rolling hills in the distant.

"You've been improving boy, but you still need to be strong enough to fight against a servant defensively." Cu Chulainn declared. "But for today we aren't going to focus on combat."

"Really? Issei asked surprised with today's plan. "No spear training where you beat me to a pulp?"

"Today we will be focusing on runes." The blue haired man stated.

"Runes? Isn't that Brynhildr's specialty?"

"She focuses on using primordial runes and hers is norse based." Cu Chulainn stated. "Have you felt really drained whenever you tried to use it?"

"That is true…" Issei scratched his head thinking about his sessions with the valkyrie. "I tend to feel exhausted after her sessions."

"It is because she is teaching you extensive prana-draining techniques. Although they are extremely powerful and has the ability to reduce a city into dust, you don't need such a thing in combat." The hound stated. "I'm going to teach you runes that reinforces the body enabling you not to rely on that stick too much."

"Ruby and I are pretty much inseparable though…" Issei trailed off after seeing that man glare at him. "But I understand your point."

"Let's start." He said.

Issei was panting after the training. Leave it to the child of light to find a way to wear him down to the bone. Red eyes stared at the currently worn out boy without a hint of sympathy. The man went up to the boy and simply patted the boy's head. Issei looked up, brown eyes meeting scarlet.

"Good job for today boy. You did well for your first time." Although he said them with very little emotions, Issei felt himself brighten up. "I have a warning for you though."

A little part of Issei just withered and died right there. When servants leave warnings they often weren't really that good. Most of the time Issei ended up half dead due to it.

"It seems like a woman of my past might show up soon." The great hero of Ireland stated. "Knowing our connection she might meet you. Honestly, she sticks to me like a thorn that refuses to come off. Well just do me a favor and don't turn her away. Protect her."

"Wha-?" Issei tried tried to speak, but he wasn't in the dream anymore. His eyes opened seeing the dull white ceiling and he felt the mattress under him. He was in his room

"Oh, I'm in my room again." He muttered and looked at his alarm clock. "The time! I'm going to be late!"

* * *

Kiba Yuuto followed a pretty standard schedule in the morning. He would wake up at six o'clock sharp and brew himself a cup of coffee before he got anything started. If he was busy and ended up staying late at night, the latest he would wake up is at 6:10. After drinking his coffee he would prepare his breakfast and his lunch; normally for lunch he would prep most of the things at night so he wouldn't have to do much in the morning.

Breakfast was something that Issei, his friend, often complained about. Considering the fact he was usually barely on time for school usually explained the reason why he rarely ate in the morning. If Kiba had some extra ingredients he would probably pack it and give it to Issei who was usually starved till lunch.

Luckily he did. He made a simple bagel sandwich filled with tomatoes, eggs, lettuce, and a bit of ketchup in it for himself and his friend. For lunch he made sandwiches of assorted fillings. He'll probably end up sharing it with Koneko who was always hungry for food. She normally carried a lot for lunch, but it never stopped her from taking a piece of his.

Around this time it's about 6:30. After cooking Kiba practices his sword skills. His apartment was big enough for him to swing his sword for some basic movements.

It's 6:40 now and Kiba would take a quick shower for about ten minutes. Brushing his teeth would take about three minutes to do.

When the clock hits seven is when Kiba leaves his apartment. His apartment isn't that far from school, but it still takes about thirty minutes to walk there.

"Hey Kiba." Saji his friend calls out to him. "How was last night?"

"There was a stray devil that entered the town." Kiba sighed as he said it. "We quickly killed her, but it seems like their numbers here are increasing."

These two guys here are devils. Phantasmal species that ruled over the sins of man according to stories. They were not real devils however, they are reincarnated devils, before they used to be human until their respective masters changed them.

"Yeah our group also had to deal with with a spy who was trying to investigate the territory here." Saji also gave a small sigh of his own. "There's no end to them."

"Everybody desires this town after all. A town stuck between the boundary of life and death and as a result of that anything is possible in this town. To remain alive after death, a contradiction like that can exist." Kiba muttered.

"What caused it though?" Saji mused. "Kaichou seems to be stressed out when it comes to this subject. Besides the ley lines nothing really changed regarding this town. Sona suspects that there is someone maintaining the order this town barely has."

"Buchou also suspects that too. She's been consulting with the local people who lived here before, but she comes up with nothing. She really believes that there is someone behind this."

But who is it then? Is a question that wasn't said out loud, but both of them thought it. Why hasn't the person shown themselves and how did they remain hidden despite the two heiresses best efforts to find them.

"Kiba did you make Issei breakfast?" Saji pointed to the extra bag that Kiba carried. "You should stop doing that for him. He'll never learn how to be on time then."

"I don't think he'll ever be on time." Kiba bluntly stated. "Even before I started to make him food, he barely made it to class everyday."

"That is true." Saji noted. "Kaichou is a bit irritated with him. He's never really tardy, but he just makes it at the last minute."

"Saji do you want to spar after school?" Kiba asked. "The Occult Research Club isn't doing anything today and I'm pretty sure the student council doesn't have that much to do. Maybe after we can invite Issei to do something with us."

"Sorry Kiba, but Kaichou asked me to show around someone today." Saji apologized. "We recently got a new peerage member and she wants him to get used to the town beforehand. Maybe I can get him to spar with us since he's really strong."

"What piece was he reincarnated with?"

"Rook." Saji stated. "He's skilled with magic and already has the agility and reflexes to compete with you Kiba. Kaichou wanted to make him balanced since his defense was pretty lackluster."

"Good decision." Kiba praised Saji's master. "Seems like you peerage has gotten stronger."

"Thanks Kiba." Saji sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Anyways I'll see if the new guy is interested in training with us. If we invite Gasper then it could be a boy's night out for us devils!"

"Gasper still isn't allowed to leave yet." Kiba said softly, but it was loud enough for Saji to hear.

"Oh… Well I'll see if we can throw a party for the new guy. Maybe we can invite Issei then, but I'll have to tell new guy to be careful about not revealing too much in front of Issei. After all it'll be bad if Issei finds out that we're devils."

Issei was supposed to not know about the supernatural. Under this assumptions the two boys continued their walk eagerly talking about what they should plan. Continuing on this peaceful day.

* * *

"How many minutes left till school starts." Issei asked Ruby. She was currently tied to Issei's belt. Normally this was something that would attract stares, but most of the people in Kuoh was used to the star shaped ornament.

"Ten minutes I say."

"If you run I think you can make it on time." Ddraig said.

"Ruby did you turn off the alarm?" Issei questioned the mystic code.

"..." The silence was all Issei needed to know.

"Haa, a beautiful morning where I'm almost late to school again. How nice." He sighed in reply to the silence.

"So what did you dream today?" Ddraig asked.

"Couldn't you appear in my dream if you wanted to know Ddraig?" Issei asked. He wasn't sarcastic or irritated when he said it, but curious.

"I try not to make a habit of entering your dreams when someone else it with you." Ddraig said. "In fact the time we usually appear to you in dreams is when we win the raffle we hold."

"You guys have a raffle?" Issei asked. He had a vague image where Medea would call out a number like they did in bingo game. "Hmm I'm surprised that no one cheated yet."

"I'm just angry that I haven't been invited to this raffle." Ruby huffed. "Why can't I join in on the fun."

"Ruby you can't enter dreams." Issei reminded her. "It'll be a nightmare if you did."

"Meanie." Ruby pouted as she folded her wings.

Issei was about to laugh, but then he felt something. It was the same as the overpowering feeling that some servants gave off. The boy froze and felt the back of his neck tingle. He wasn't scared, but his action was somewhat instinctive. More than a reflex than a conscious thought.

Then he saw her.

She was beautiful as she stood in front of the morning sun. Her purple hair flowed freely and hints of red could be seen within the sunlight. She wore a purple and black skin tight armor that emphasized her body, but the familiar feel of runes could be felt. They were the ones he used, the one where the boy saw in his dreams.

Her eyes were red. Red like the color fresh blood, the same color that he had.

"Are you able to kill me?" A voice echoed through his memories, but it was not the boy's memories.

It was Berserker's.

Who was she?

The girl walked up to him and before Issei knew it he felt his arm being grabbed.

"Who are you magician?" The girl asked. "What is your purpose in this town?"

"I am... I am a person who was born and raised in this town." Issei stuttered as red eyes met brown. "Who are you?"

"Hmph I am Scathach, ruler of the land of shadows. I'll accept you insolence this time" Although the girl introduced herself, her grip didn't loosen at all. "Who are you?"

"Issei Hyoudou." Upon saying that he felt the pressure on him arm loosen. It wasn't enough to pull his arm away, but at least it didn't hurt anymore. "Resident magician of this town."

She spied the ornate brooch on his chest. The girl gently touched it with her other hand. Issei didn't dare to move when she inspected Ddraig. She stopped after a minute and looked at him.

"Boy I'll commend your skills as a mage at least. To be able to mask the aura of a heavenly dragon is no small feat." She stared at him with approval. "I suggest to continue working on it a bit more, but at this level you'll certainly avoid detection from the residents here."

"Nice to meet you Immortal Witch." Ddraig greeted the girl in front of him. "It is an honor meeting a the ruler of the Land of Shadows. What brings you to this small town?"

"I need to recapture a girl who escaped." Scathach stated. "I don't plan on staying in this town for long. To deal with the devils here for a long amount of time would be an inconvenience."

"Um Scathach-san?" Ruby timidly called out her name. "Can you please not tell them about us if you're planning to meet them? It would be very inconvenient for us if you did tell them."

"That's fine after all I do plan on meeting them later. It's already inconvenient to go out and ask for their permission, but Dagda will get angry if I don't. I suppose I don't need to tell them about you since this is already a pain already." Is Scathach seemed bothered that an ornament was able to talk she didn't show it. "Goodbye for now boy."

The moment she left Issei felt his shoulders sag in relief. The threatening atmosphere that formed around her was gone.

"Uwah, that girl made me feel like I was standing on pins and needles Issei-chan."

"I'm more surprised that someone managed to escape from the Haunted Realm Partner." Ddraig muttered.

"How come?" Issei asked. "Is it really that hard to escape?"

"Scathach can be compared to a Longinus Partner." Ddraig said. "No unlike us she managed to kill many different deities from multiple pantheons. She long since elevated from her status as a human."

Longinus a weapon named after the spear that managed to kill the son of christ. Is now a name of a class given to sacred gears that hold the ability to slay a god. Ddraig is one of them. His ability to double the wielder's power infinitely does hold the potential of being able to slay a god. During the time of the great war between the devils, angels, and the fallen Ddraig and his counterpart ended up causing the war to be disrupted temporarily. It was due to the fact it took the combined effort of all factions to finally kill him and the white one.

"Eh! Then she's like some sort of monster herself." Ruby gasped.

"At this age no one really dares to fight against her." Ddraig explained. "Even the most bloodthirsty of warriors know better than to challenge her. Only the insane would do it or other gods seeking revenge."

"Let's hope we just don't meet her again. Oh shoot, I'm going to be late to school!" With that Issei ran the remaining way.

* * *

"Wow you managed to arrive to school on time Hyoudou." Aika Kiryuu commented as she stared at the boy who looked slightly red from running so much. "You must be getting on Kaichou's nerve."

Aika Kiryuu a normal student attending Kuoh. She was his friend in middle school and apparently had the special ability to calculate a male's manhood just by looking at them. She never used it on Issei, but she has used her ability on the rest of the male population in the school. Considering the ratio of male to female population being 3:7 it wasn't that much.

"Shitori-san? Nah, I don't really think so…" Issei trailed off remembering the glare that came from her spectacles. "Maybe she is a bit irritated. I can't help it though."

"See. Hey Asia-chan are you going to give Issei some of your home cooked meal?" Aika Kiryuu asked Asia Argento who walked up to Issei's desk. "What did you make today Asia-chan? Oooo, a bagel sandwich. You should just give that to me Asia-chan." She peeked inside the brown bag that Asia was holding.

Asia Argento was a transfer student from a few weeks ago. She attends the same club as Kiba and is famous at school for being a beauty and for her kind personality. Issei is 90% sure that Asia is a devil from the way she sometimes pray and ends up getting a headache after. She is probably a reincarnated devil, a term that Ddraig mentioned in the past.

"N-no Aika-chan this is a misunderstanding. Kiba asked me to give it to him." Asia stuttered handing the meal towards Issei. "Here!"

"Thanks Asia for delivering this to me." Issei replied. "I'll give my thanks to Kiba later."

"The Prince of Kuoh making Hyoudou a meal?!" "Is this a ship?" "Forbidden love?!"

Various whispers erupted in the small classroom. With practiced ease the trio ignored the comments floating around.

"I'll eat this right now then." Issei said and bit in the sandwich.

It was really good in his opinion, but considering it was a simple dish it was hard to screw up. Like the curry packets you buy from the store, it's a dead-end in flavor improvement. Still it tastes delicious.

"That was good." Issei commented once he finished his meal. "Kiba should open a restaurant one day."

"Asia-chan how is your cooking skills." Aika Kiryuu asked. "I could barely cook instant noodles."

"That's pretty bad Kiryuu." Issei threw his empty paper bag into the trash. It flew straight in and Asia clapped politely. "You need to learn to at least cook rice and miso soup. Natto is something you buy at the grocery store later."

"How are your cooking skills than Hyoudou." Aika glared at him. "What can you cook? Cereal?"

"I can't cook dishes at all. Maybe Korean bbq if I tried." Issei laughed in response. "I can bake though. My specialty is in dessert."

"Um, I can bake bread." Asia responded to Aika's question. "Though I can't seem to find a clay oven around here to make bread. With the materials I have I can make only gruel."

Both Aika and Issei turned their heads towards her in disbelief. Disbelief later turned into horror once they realized the girl wasn't joking at all. Then horror turned into tears as they both cried in front of Asia who was confused by their reaction.

"Is there something wrong?" Asia asked. "The church only taught me how to food that could feed a lot of people. We had to often had to chop firewood to heat up the oven and we often had to carry water from the nearby well."

"Wait you're not joking right?" Issei asked just to be sure.

Asia nodded her head in reply.

"We can't let this go for any longer." Aika Kiryuu roared in rage. "For poor Asia-chan to live on food that has no flavor and for her to believe in the use of a clay oven to make bread. This is too old-fashioned! We are the the children of the future! We need to teach her how to use modern appliances."

"I got a cellphone just last week." Asia pulled out her cellphone. It was a basic phone. "I'm having trouble using this so can you please help with this later Aika-chan."

"This is heresy!" Issei yelled at the sight of the basic phone. "We live in the age of smartphones. For Argento-san to be this inexperienced with technology cannot be allowed."

Aika and Issei stared at each other and then nodded.

"This weekend we'll teach you Asia about the information age." They both spoke in unison.

"I'll bring Kiba to teach you how to cook more food." Issei declared. "And I'll teach you how to make some of the basic pastries."

"I'll teach you about the wonders of the internet." Aika declared. "Do you have a laptop or a computer Asia-chan?"

"No…" Asia trailed off after seeing her friend's expression change into one of despair.

"Can this girl be saved?" Aika wondered and then collapsed.

"We have a woman down guys. Woman down!" Issei wailed.

The class ignored his cries. After all this was a daily experience for them. They learned how to ignore the boy's cries with practiced ease some time ago.

* * *

Sona Sitri and Rias Gremory made eye contact for a brief moment, silently communicating on what to do with their new visitor. Both girls experienced the politics in the underworld being extremely influential beings, but never in their experience they had to face this.

It was lunch time. Most of the students were indoor and inside the building. If they messed up, the chance of this school disappearing would be very high. Not to mention the body count that would occur.

Their visitor in question was sipping tea in front of them. The faint smell of black tea and increasing amount of tension overfilled the room. The heiresses' various peerage members were either confused or had their guard extremely up.

"This tea is very delicious." Scathach remarked. "May I know who brewed it?"

"That would be me." Kiba moved forward and took a bow. "Thank you for the compliment Immortal Witch."

"Umm, sorry to interrupt, but why are you here?" Rias asked. "We are currently in charge of the investigation of the situation in Kuoh. If you're here for that we would like to reject what offer you have relating to it."

"I am not here for the investigation concerning Kuoh Crimson Haired Ruin Princess of Destruction. I am searching from someone who escaped from the Land of Shadows. I would like your permission to allow me to stay here for my search." She took another sip of her tea. "Do you have any problem with that?"

While denying the Shadow would be a horrible choice to make, Rias and Sona couldn't just allow her to roam around the town unattended. This town was in devil territory and allowing the celts to search without restrictions could have some political backlash to it. They needed to place restrictions without actually making the god slayer angry.

"We'll allow your stay under a few conditions." Sona was the one who spoke up. "First is that you must make it a priority to place lives over retrieval of the escaper. Second is that we'll assist you in your search. The third condition is that your time limit here is a month at most."

"I accept those conditions." Scathach brushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "We'll start the search tonight. I'll set up a barrier in this town to ensure that they won't escape. Is that fine with you?"

"As long as you take my rook with you." Sona stated. "Loup." She called out.

"Yes." A man emerged from the two peerage. He had a handsome face with rugged features and yellow eyes. A red bandanna contrasted well against his gray hair.

"It's good that you are taking precautions." The witch complimented. "Follow me."

Loup nodded and left with the purple hair girl leaving the rest of the occupants in the room. After they heard the door close Sona and Rias started to sag their shoulders in relief.

"Do you think Loup will be fine?" Rias asked. "Considering he's with her."

"He carries the blood of both a famed magician and a powerful werewolf." Sona assured her friend. "He'll have the ability to run at least."

"Who was that girl?" Saji asked. "She seemed sort of strict."

"She was Scathach Saji." Kiba was the one who informed Saji. "A feared person by many, known for killing multiples of deities before. She is probably at the level of a super devil."

"What, at a level of a super devil?!" Saji exclaimed. "Then she's-"

"Yes, the Shadow is probably at the same level of my brother." Rias sighed as she gazed into her teacup. "Maybe even more. Though I find it suspicious that someone escaped from the Land of Shadows."

"Yes my thoughts exactly." Sona shared her thoughts. "The fact that someone escaped from the Land of Shadows is near impossible. It could be a lie fabricated for her to investigate the area here or she could've let someone escape for that purpose."

"After all this land can allow the impossible to happen in this state that is in." Akeno Himejima mused. "Anybody would desire it."

"Who escaped?." Asia asked the question that everybody was thinking right now.

"If such a person existed in the first place." Tsubaki Shinra stared at the door where the two left.

* * *

"Who did Berserker refer to, when he said to protect her?" Issei muttered as he walked home. Aika ended up waking up pretty quickly so he didn't have to drag her to the nurse's office.

Lunch ended with him hanging out with Aika because Kiba and Saji left saying that they had club business to do. It wasn't the first time they did that so it didn't really bother him, but judging by their faces after school…

"Those two must've had the Shadow come visit them." Ddraig interrupted his thoughts. "She is a fearsome woman indeed. She would've most likely be able to cause Azazel to fight a defensive battle against her if she went at full strength."

"The more I hear about this girl, the more scared I get." Ruby shivered. "I don't even know who this Azazel is."

"From what I know he is the leader of the Grigori, the only major Fallen faction." Ddraig explained. "He's probably just below Michael in terms of strength. I don't know about the current leaders of the underworld so I can't make an accurate analysis about them. According to what I heard before, two out of the four current leaders are their own brand of monsters."

"... You really do love explaining things don't you Ddraig." Issei poked the brooch. "That reminds me during the Holy Grail War you would give me lectures about your existence and your abilities."

"Ah yes, I remember those times." Ruby chimed in. "You were like, 'I'm the soul of a great welsh dragon stuck in a container created by god. I could double your abilities every ten seconds. Worship me mongrel!' Oh wait that wasn't you. You were more like 'I've seen many things changing wielders throughout the ages. I am big proud dragon that could eat you up'"

"Lies Little Tool!" Ddraig shouted. "I did not say that last comment you just made."

"What?!" Ruby exclaimed. "Yes you did Liar!"

They continued on squabbling and Issei sighed being in the middle between the two. It was weird being in the middle of two object fightings, but it wasn't really the first time it happened. He closed his eyes and massaged his temples in response, but when he opened them they weren't at the street anymore.

"Hey guys, how did we end up here?" He looked down and at his side to find the brooch and the mystic code missing. "Is this a dream?"

He was in a winter field. It was obvious that this was a battlefield with the corpses of dead soldiers lying on the floor. The white fields that with splotches of blood decorating it, almost like red paint on a white canvas. There was no one besides the dead here, as far as Issei could see. The battle must've ended just recently.

"Are you going to kill me Cu Chulainn. If so then do it. I'm not so cowardly to the point where I would beg you to spare my life." A high pitch voice resounded in the air. The voice could be described as a nightingale singing.

Issei turned to the direction where the voice came from.

Her figure was obscure by a black haze that clung to her body. Still it was obvious that she glared at the man who held a pure red spear in his hands.

It was Berserker, but he looked more human. Unlike the beast like armor, this man wore a blue skin tight armor that had silver lines decorating it. He seemed more heroic lacking any of the blood red markings that Berserker wore.

"Can you walk?" He says. Using one of his hands as an offer to help her up.

"What?" The girl asked back confused.

"Can you walk?" Cu Chulainn repeats the question. Slightly shaking his hand in emphasis.

The girl hesitantly took his hand and stood up. Cu Chulainn started to walk, but then turned back expecting her to go with him. She began to slowly began to walk, their footsteps leaving prints in the snow. For a moment yellow eyes were seen through the haze showing the eyes of a girl in love.

"Issei-chan!" Ruby cried out. The snowfield changed back to the street.

Issei stared at the sun that was now beginning to set. The clear orange overtaking the blue it once had.

"Twilight." He muttered. "Is it that late?"

"You were dozing off for a long time Partner."

"I better be going home then."

* * *

"It's twilight already?" The man muttered, lighted a new cigarette. "Seems like I'm done with work then. Hey boss I'm leaving!" He called out to the manager.

"Good work today Dohn." The manager called back. "See you tomorrow."

"Alright then." The man left to go back home. "Time to go home I guess."

He thought about the abandoned church, before shaking his head. That wasn't his home anyways, it was just an old hide-out he stayed in before. His mind drifted to the 2LDK he currently is staying in.

The man was currently living alone. He used to have companions before they were killed by the overseers hear. It wasn't really their fault though. He had understood the consequences when they came to this city. The chances of them dying were high and he knew it.

He was a fallen. One of the angels who fell from the heaven committing a sin against god. He understood the consequences of everything since he fell.

They all paid the price, except for him. Funny because those three never seemed to understand. They only realized it upon their last breath where they begged to be spared.

He who knew the price didn't pay for it. Those who didn't did.

"Enough of those old memories." The man muttered. "I have to worry about what to buy right now."

From the corner of his eyes he noticed a brown haired boy running. At his side there was a charm of a star with wings.

He disregarded it and walked to the grocery store. He still had to buy dinner tonight.

Twilight began to fade and the moon slowly rises sending the town under the cover of night.

* * *

"I feel like something problematic will be happening" The boy muttered. "What is it though?"

He just finished his homework and had eaten dinner just an hour ago. From his window a few of the stars shined brightly in the blank dark sky and the moon illuminated its light on his face.

"Hmm what could it be Issei-chan?" Ruby floated up in the air and circled around the boy's head. "I suggest that you shouldn't go out at night though Issei-chan. With the Shadow prowling the streets it won't be that safe."

"I probably won't do anything that dangerous." Issei laughed, but then stopped. "Well I hope I don't."

"Knowing my luck Partner, something will bad will happen." Ddraig appeared again on Issei's chest. "It's something we dragon have as a natural trait. Power attract power and as a heavenly dragon your luck was pretty doomed from the start from the moment you got me."

"So the problem why I'm always nearly late…"

"No that's has nothing to do with luck. That's your own fault for not waking early Partner." Ddraig mercilessly rebuked him.

"Hahaha Issei-chan will this finally be the time you use me after five long years." Ruby cheered. "I'm finally promoted to actual tool of power now! Prima Issei will have a comeback now!"

"I really hope I don't have a comeback that soon." Issei sighed. "It was inevitable so whatever, but facing the Immortal Witch is impossible."

"That's what the power of love and friendship is for Issei-chan."

" _Protect her."_ A voice rang through his head.

"I'm going outside." Issei got up and changed. "Ruby get ready."

"Wait why?" Ruby asked. "This is too sudden! I didn't get to see a character development scene!"

"You'll see later." Issei went downstairs. "Hey Mom, I'll be out for an hour. If not then I'm probably staying over at Kiba's."

"Well today is a Friday…" Mrs. Hyoudou muttered. "Okay then off you go. Just give me a call if you're sleeping over."

"Thanks Mom see ya." Issei left the house running. "Ruby we're going to transform now."

"Haha, this is the comeback of Prisma Issei." Ruby cried out in joy. "Transformation in three, two, one, start!"

In a flash of light Issei's clothes changed form.

He wore red fingerless gloves and combat boots with matching colors. Above his white shorts he wore a white dress shirt that was under a red high-cut jacket. Peaking out from the back were small dragon wings and on his head were two small horns.

' _Protect her'_

"I will."

"By the way who are you talking to?"

"... Just shut up Ruby."

* * *

The girl ran not knowing where to go. There was no destination in mind and because of that she continued to run. She only needed to get away from her. The witch who wants her back, back to the haunted realm where the girl will stayuntil the world ends.

"Where are you Cu?" She murmured. "Where are you right now?"

He was here in this town before; the girl could feel his presence. She didn't know how to explain this feeling she had. In life she never had this ability, it was only five years ago when she began to feel her king. It was because of him she was able to get back her will within that dark world.

Where is he now?

Kuoh is able to grant her a physical body although temporary, but she didn't care. She needed to see him one more time. He was somewhere in this town, but where?

She continued running till she was at the front of an old chapel. The door had rotten with age and it only took a single push to open it.

He was here at one point, she realized this fact as she walked down the aisle. She reached the altar looking at the cross that was broken apart leaving a small plus sign. The stain glass behind had a crack that ran down the entire pane.

"He was here." She breathed out. Her angelic voice rang through the empty room.

"I wonder who you're talking about?"

"Cu Chulainn?" She whispered.

For a moment she saw his blue hair gently flow in the evening breeze, his blood red eyes staring straight at her, and in his hand was a familiar crimson spear. It emanates the feeling of death and bloodlust, but she didn't care because he was here.

"We finally meet once again." She uttered those words and ran straight at him.

"I'm sorry, but I am not the Hound of Ulster." Before she could embrace him, slender hands stopped her.

She looked at the man once again and instead of a man, he was a boy. He didn't look remotely anything to him. Chocolate brown eyes stared directly at hers, she spied horn appearing above his spiky brown hair. In his hand wasn't a spear, but rather it was a wand of some sort.

He wasn't him, but why did she mistake this boy for him? It didn't make sense at all.

"Who are you?" She asked. Her voice rang like the chimes of a bell.

"Issei Hyoudou. And you?"

"I am Medb, former Queen of Connacht and now a fugitive." She declared. "What is your motive for meeting me here?"

"To protect you, to fulfill his request."

Upon the boy's own declaration, his chocolate brown eyes flickered blood red.

* * *

 **Hello guys it finally seem I got the weird horizontal thing down. If not I'm sorry because it means that this chapter lacks page breaks. Currently day two or three of writing this story and I have no idea what is coming next. Seriously I didn't think this far. Maybe a fight scene with Scathach? Considering how OP she is Issei would need to use a powerful noble phantasm in a surprise attack. That crosses out Excalibur right there considering one of the restrictions is that the battle needs to be honorable.**

 **Install may or may not be used in this arc and I felt that Dohn needs some closure so I'll probably put him in somewhere next chapter. He really won't be involved in the story though. Think of it as a commercial break that happens in the story.**

 **Berserker will obviously be tied heavily considering he is Cu Chulainn. This arc was inspired from the Luck of the Irish by Timpeni. I don't have a link, but you guys probably have internet. I really want to try drawing parallel between the two monarchs, but I'll probably fail so it depends really.**

 **Anyways wish me luck with this fic. Also don't expect anything for the next two to three weeks because I got summer homework to do.**


	3. The Hunt

"To fulfill his request?" Medb asked as she stared in the boy's eyes. The brief flicker of red that was shown there. Was it her imagination or was it something else? "Could it be from the Hound of Ulster?"

The boy did not say anything in reply, but he simply grabbed her and pulled her in his arms. She gave a small yelp and was about to push him away, but then she heard the sound of the floor breaking behind her. Turning back she saw the crimson spear that contained an unimaginable amount of bloodlust. She recognized the spear. It wasn't the one that he used, it was the one that she wielded.

"Look like the enemy is here already." The boy muttered as he picked up the red spear. He then turned to face the source.

Scathach the Immortal Witch stood there in all her glory. The moonlight that shined on her through the broken roof acted as a natural spotlight; it was impossible to draw eyes away from her as she stood there. The red tint in her hair stood out almost making it seem like her hair was coated in blood.

"Maive come back to the Haunted Realm." She twirled the spear that was in her right hand.

"No." Medb stated this like it was a fact. "I'm never going to go back to that place again." She materialized her riding crop and pointed it to the Godslayer. "You can't force me back Scathach."

"Even with this land you can barely maintain yourself." Scathach rebuked her claim. "A single use of magic will break you apart. At this point you're nothing more than a fragile flower and you won't be able to last a month here. What makes you think that I'm not able to capture you?"

Medb did nothing more than grit her teeth in response. She was right. The current container she was in was fragile to the point where her body would end up disintegrating in the instant she starts fighting and even if she kept running her body would end up crumbling soon.

"Sorry Scathach, but fighting against you would be suicidal." The boy wrapped his arm around her waist and shot a single blast of pure energy at the red eyed girl. She blocked in response but the moment it hit a huge cloud of smoke erupted from the blast.

With a single rune that glowed in the air and smoke was immediately blown away, but the duo was nowhere to be found.

She clicked her tongue in response, looking at the newly formed hole on the roof.

"It seems like they ran." She muttered to herself. "Well the barrier prevents them from leaving so there isn't anything to worry about. Though that boy to blatantly attack me in order to escape was a pretty good plan. Even taking my spear in the process. Seems like I might have a bit of fun tonight."

She smiled and walked out of the ruined church. This was the beginning of the hunt.

* * *

"Are you crazy?" Issei asked the girl in his arm. "Wanting to fight against Scathach, the Godslayer, a woman who could be considered to be a human longinus, to a fight?"

They were up in the air flying. It was a bit hard to maneuver with Medb in his arm, but if he didn't have to do an aerial battle he should be fine.

"Then what should we do?" Medb retorted back. "We can't possibly escape from her. She set up a barrier to prevent me from leaving this town. What option do we have left?"

"We'll keep running till we figure something." Issei responded. "First let's deal with the fact about your body. Is there any way can we can strengthen the body you're in? It'll be helpful if you can at least fight or last long enough for us to figure out how to change the fragile container you're in"

"There is an method." She replied licking her lips. "I'm pretty sure both of us will enjoy this."

"What is it?"

"Sex."

"S-Sex!?" Issei spluttered and they wobbled in the air.

"Be careful Sei." She scolded him. "You almost killed us there."

"S-Sei what's with the nickname?!" Issei blushed as he muttered. "Also what's with your idea of sex?"

"Hmm, you can't possibly be a virgin right?" Medb grinned. "You are? How cute Sei."

"Why are you grinning like a perverted old man?! No, what happened to the royal like dignity you had earlier?! Are you the type that hides your real personality like a mask, like those cliches in a shoujo manga about the ojou-sama's villany?!" Issei surprised by her character change started to shout these questions in the night sky.

"What are you saying Sei, isn't it too soon to make any judgement about me? We've only met for about 10 minutes. What's an ojou-sama anyways or a shoujo manga?"

"So the former queen of Connacht is unfamiliar with the terms used in modern day Japan. That's expected, but don't worry Medb-chan. I Kaleidostick Ruby, mystic code created by the great sorcerer Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, swear to teach you all these terms. With me you'll be learning about everything meta and shoujo." Ruby bent to turn to the girl.

Medb looked quite surprised at the fact that Ruby had intelligence and a personality, but didn't really comment on it. Instead the the former queen nodded her head eager to hear an explanation.

"Please don't Little Tool." Ddraig sighed and Issei agreed with him with a firm nod.

"We strayed from the topic far enough. So about the sex." Medb coughed and then blushed as she stared at Issei. "I'd never had aerial sex before so this will be my first time, so I guess we're both virgins in this case."

"I'm pretty sure that isn't how virginity works." Issei commented. "And what's with that innocent look you have right there. Don't tell me your pure and dirty at the same time?! No sex, but why are you deciding that?!"

"Don't you know Issei-chan? Oh wait I never did tell you about this, since you never had the need to do this anyways, but we might as well talk about it." Ruby extended the word but for too long and then started 'the talk'. "When a male is in love with a female, they would get urges a-"

"Stop with the nonsense Little Tool I gave Issei the talk ages ago. You're a too late for that." Ddraig interrupted Ruby.

"What Issei-chan!? How come you never told me about this?" If Ruby was able to make facial expression betrayal would have been etched in. "How did I miss an important event?!"

"Enough about the talk right now. Anyways sex is rejected!" Issei cried out.

"What?!" Medb exclaimed. "But Sei! Having sex would mean that you would be able to transfer prana into this container and further stabilize my existence here."

"That actually a good explanation, but I decided no sex." Issei declared. "It won't be even the last resort option Medb."

"Then do we have any other ideas?" She pouted, but it disappeared quickly. "I have another plan, but I want to hear about what you have to offer."

"We can do a servant summoning ritual." Ruby offered an idea. "If we can tweak with the summoning a bit and make it possible to turn Medb into a servant."

"What does that do for me specifically?"

"Let's say the body is a container for your soul." Issei started to explain. "The land in Kuoh town granted you a container to interact with the physical plain, but since you lacked the supplies and preparation the container is fragile. Using a certain ritual we can change your container to a more sturdier one. You can probably fight without any repercussion and live for more than a lifetime if we do that, but…"

"But what? It sounds like a good plan. Is there a problem with it?"

"The ritual creates a master-familiar bond with you and me." Upon seeing Medb open her mouth to reply, Issei held out his hand in a gesture to stop her from interrupting. "You might not have a problem with that, but the main trouble is the amount of prana it takes to maintain your existence. Since the container is really high-quality, the upkeep is impossible without me without backup. Also we lack the necessary preparations right now and the leylines in this town is unstable. Worst case scenario is that we can blow up a huge part of town."

"How about the sex option?" Medb asked once again, but received a flick on the head.

"No. I can't think of anything else right now, so what's your other plan?" Issei asked her.

"Have you heard about Dagda's cauldron?"

"Is it the Cauldron of Plenty?" Ddraig asked. "The relic that is said to bring an endless supply of foods and drinks to the owner?"

"Yes it's that one." Medb said.

"See how Ddraig-chan likes explaining things Issei." Ruby pointed out. "Such an attention grabber."

"Is that supposed to be a bad thing Little Tool?" Ddraig asked. "At least I get to the point when I talk."

"So what about this cauldron?" Issei spoke before an argument could break out again. "How could it help us?"

Unsurprisingly it was Ddraig who explained.

"This cauldron was used as the base to build the the relic known as the holy grail. If used properly we can use it as a base to hold Medb's body without needing to supply her. Think of it as making a pseudo servant with it's own holy grail supplying it Partner."

"There is one problem with this though." Issei stated. "There is no way we can get out hands on a sacred relic from the celts without leaving this town."

"No." Medb shook her head. "We don't need the entire thing. We just need only a fragment, a shard, to make this work. Luckily for us there is someone in town with it."

"Don't tell me it's…" Issei trailed off dreading for the answer that was about to come.

"Scathach owns a small piece of the cauldron." Medb confirmed.

"Talk about an impossible quest. How are we supposed to convince the person hunting us down to stop hunting us down and to hand over a shard of a sacred relic." Ruby cried dismayed about the challenge that they had to face. "Ddraig this is all your fault and Issei is partly to blame."

"For what?" They both asked the stick.

"For your guys' horrible luck that is!" She yelled.

"..."

"Ara ara look what we have here. Hyoudou-san and the girl we're supposed to find. I never knew you were a magician Hyoudou-san."

A new voice appeared in the sky with them and another person soon joined them after those words were uttered.

Issei recognized them. The girl who had the biggest bust in the school and the other girl who had crimson red hair. They were known as Kuoh Academy's Two Great ladies and unknown to most they were devils.

"Ah, Himejima-san and Gremory-san what a lovely evening." Issei gulped as he stared at the two girls.

* * *

This was bad. A thought like that briefly appeared in Issei's mind as he stared at his two senpais. An aerial battle would be a disadvantage considering that he couldn't fight and carry Medb at the same time.

"Hyoudou-kun for now we'll talk about you hiding the fact that you were a magician later. Hand over the girl Hyoudou." Rias's voice went from sweet to bitter as she glared daggers at the boy.

"Technically I'm a magical boy, albeit a retired magical boy, but still a magical boy nevertheless." Issei corrected her.

If it was any other situation Rias probably would've laughed, but Issei sensed that she wasn't really keen on anything right now.

"Do you know who this girl is Hyoudou-san?" Akeno asked. It was a rhetorical question because she started to explain right after she said it. "She is an escaped prisoner from the Land of Shadows and Scathach, the ruler of the said place, is hunting for this girl right now."

"Yeah I saw her about a few minutes ago…" Issei trailed off after seeing the malevolent smiles on their faces. "I'll be going with Medb right now so if you can kindly put away the weapon's you're forming-!"

Blades of winds and dark red orbs headed to his face. He put up a barrier to block it and while it did shield him from the blades of winds, the dark orbs managed to break through causing one to hit his shoulder directly.

"Ah!" Issei yelled out in pain. "Ruby we're leaving. I don't care about the location, but set up a prism field."

"Roger that Issei-chan." In a kaleidoscope of colors they vanished leaving the two ladies behind.

"Ara ara, Hyoudou-san left." Akeno stared at the dissolving colors. "Rias what should we do?"

"First we inform the others." Rias commanded. "Tell them all that Issei Hyoudou is a magician and is helping the escaped convict."

"Isn't he a magical boy though?" Akeno asked.

"For Sona's sake we won't say anything about that."

"Ah." Akeno nodded in understanding. It wasn't easy having a sister who cosplays wishing to be a genuine magical girl.

* * *

"Fighting in an aerial battle would've been a suicide move for me right there." Issei sighed as he started to sag his shoulders in relief. "That's what I get for retiring. Getting rusty in everything and training in dreams can do so much."

"Where are we?" Medb asked.

Issei gave a quick glance nearby noticing the piles of fruits and vegetables as well as other grocery items.

"I pretty sure we're in the grocery store in the shopping district. I'll set up some cloaking devices in order to prevent us from being spotted for now. I'm pretty sure I'm also going to have to set up some decoy devices to throw them off of our trail." Issei started to grab some devices out of the Ddraig's brooch.

"Partner I prefer if you didn't use me as a storage device that often."

"To bad Ddraig. If I didn't use you my pockets would be cluttered with goods already. Also Ruby can you give a quick scan of the area here. I want to know the barrier that Scathach set up."

"Roger that Issei-chan."

He pulled out a cotton swab and started to dab his bloodied shoulder. After staining five cotton swabs he put each of them into individual test tubes. He pulled out five amethyst and muttered a short incantation. Within moments they each crumbled into bits leaving only dust behind.

"Hey Medb could I have a bit of your blood or your hair?"

"My hair should be fine." She plucked several strands of her silky hair and gave it to him. "Why do you need it?"

He put the plucked hair into the test tubes and muttered something again. A quartz that he held into his hand crumbled as the test tubes disappeared floated in the air and disappeared.

"I set up a cloaking device that should last for a few minutes. The traces of my blood and your hair should act as decoys for them. I guess this entire set-up should last of a good half hour or so before they find us again."

"Hey Issei-chan I found a second barrier along with the first. I'll just tell you both of them anyways. The first barrier prevents spiritual beings from leaving. I detected several runes in that ones and without the proper tools it'll be impossible to break out of. Even with it I think it would take a good century or two to break out of. The second though is something interesting. Have you noticed something wrong?"

"Something wrong?" Issei asked.

"Could it be the people? I haven't sensed any people here." Medb was the one who spoke.

"Pin pon!" Ruby yelled. "You are right Medb-chan. This barrier isolates innocent humans from us supernatural beings. It is possible to escape from this barrier, but I would think that you wouldn't want to Issei-chan."

"Yeah... It's better to not involve any innocent people." Issei sighed. "Ruby could you focus on healing for now?"

"Already am Issei-chan, but I have to admit that the Gremory girl managed to hit you hard."

"Hmm…" Ddraig seemed lost in thought judging by that noise. Issei knew better than to bother him right now.

"Sei, what can you tell me about Cu?" Medb leaned against his uninjured shoulder. "Why did I sense him here and why did you come to protect me?"

"To be honest I didn't even know what you looked like when he asked me to protect you." Issei admitted. "I only had a brief vision in which you were in it, but you were covered in some sort of a black haze so it was hard to make you out."

"Then-?'

"Your eyes I guess. You had the same exact eyes when you mistook me for him. The eyes of a girl in love." Issei ignored the small blush that slowly appeared on the girl's cheek. "I met the man known as Setanta after some circumstances that happened five years. The church you were in was where we fought in the mirror world. I'm guessing that some residual traces remained of him after I left the parallel plane.

"I don't fully understand what you're saying Sei, but does that mean he's not here in this town?"

"He still is, but he can only contact me through dreams." Issei pulled out a card from Ddraig. "He's currently resting in this card due to some circumstances and would lend me his powers if I needed it."

"Berserker." She read out the faded words of the card. She took the card in his hand and studied the picture of the man with the head of a monster.

Issei for the first time had a full look of the girl in front of her. They had been in a rush so he never got to really study her. Pink silky hair that flowed freely behind her. The white dress she wore didn't do much to cover the proportions she had and it emphasized her peach skin. Overall she had a body like a goddess, beautiful to the level where it almost reached divinity.

"Are you having a crush on me Sei?"

Brown eyes stared into gold. Issei scooted back real quick causing Medb to crash on the floor.

"Oww Sei that hurts." Medb rubbed her head. "Can't you treat a former queen better?"

"You just surprised me for a bit." Issei muttered and helped her sit down next to him. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay Sei." Medb replied with a bright grin. "As thanks I'll tell you a something interesting."

"..."

"The Haunted Realm is a place where the dead stay and are unable to leave. Once your in there it doesn't matter how many sins or good deeds you commit in you life. Sinner, saint, man, woman, adult, child, are all the same. Just like the saying all are equal in death, we were no different. We were all half-asleep in that realm, unaware of most of the things that were going on."

 _Almost like a sleeping princess the girl slept. In a coffin filled with pure white carnations her whip was placed on her chest in place of a rose._

"Only those that had a glorious death in battle or died a hero was able to reach the otherworld."

 _Almost like a prince that came from a distant kingdom, a warrior came from far distant land._

"I stayed in that place for centuries. It was almost like a dream that I couldn't wake up from. A long long dream that was supposed to last for an eternity. Then five years ago I felt his presence. There was a something that moved in me and it lead to me waking up."

 _Awoken by her prince, the princess came to find her savior._

Scathach is alone and always will be. She cannot die anymore because she was to strong to the point where she stopped being human. After years of killing wraiths, humans, and gods she stepped into the field of the divine. Unable to die neither a beautiful death nor a hideous one, she'll continue to exist until the end. No, she'll probably live beyond the end outlasting everything."

 _Eternity that only brought nothing but emptiness. For the girl was left behind locked forever in the tower known as time. Her prince came, but then vanished leaving the poor girl alone._

"How sad." Issei said quietly.

"Anyways Sei, even if we could fix my body right now we're avoiding the main problem." Medb clapped his cheeks. "We have to figure out how to stop Scathach from hunting me down."

"I actually have a plan for that." Issei grinned. "It just has a 5% of success. It probably has a 0% chance of getting Scathach to give us the shard though."

"That's actually a good probability of success when you're up against her." Ddraig commented. "What is it Partner?"

"Umm it's…" From the corner of his eye Issei noted a gacha machine nearby. "Wait.." He stood up and began to walk.

"Issei-chan I know you're almost healed, but you shouldn't be walking yet." Ruby scolded him. He ignored her and placed his hand in front of the clear plastic screen of the machine.

"Ruby do you remember that world you showed me before." Issei asked her.

"What do you… Ohhh?" Ruby noded in realization. "I understand where you're going at. Yeah if we can tweak the ritual to that format we can do it."

"Then it is possible?"

"I'm pretty sure it can be possible to do. If we survive the night, I'm pretty sure it can be done within a week."

"What are you talking about partner?"

"Am I missing something important Sei?" Medb walked up with her eyes hinting confusion.

"I have a new idea Medb." Issei ran up to the pink haired girl and shook her in joy. "You might not like it, but it can work. We found a way to fix the problem with your body."

At that exact moment someone crashed through the roof.

* * *

He was rather muscular and had a firm build. A red bandanna was used as a headband contrasting heavily with his gray hair and yellow eyed. He was handsome, but he wasn't the bishounen type. Instead he could be described as manly with rugged features and toned muscles that showed through his clothes.

"We should've still had an extra 20 minutes left!" Issei yelled out. "I guess I really did underestimate them. Well maybe that's because I lack the basic parameters they had…" He started to mutter furiously at himself.

The man didn't say anything. He leaped towards them with the intention of knocking out the boy.

"Shield!" Ruby cried out. Instead of a red tinted barrier, a huge blast erupted from the wand and shot the man directly in the chest.

He was blasted back and ended up toppling several stands before ending up at aisle 5.

"So you called out a different attack name?" Issei asked. "Also Ruby we're trying not to kill him. I don't want them to hunt me down to avenge their fallen comrade after this."

"Sorry Partner, but I suspect that blast might have not been strong enough. Little Tool you should've gone at full power."

The man got up from the crater that formed under him. He was breathing heavily and his shirt was ripped apart showing his abs. Other then that he didn't look bothered in the slightest.

"Are you kidding me?! We don't have time for this. Ruby bind him." Issei grabbed Medb. "We're flying again Medb."

"Sei try to hold me more comfortablllllyyyyyyyy!" She yelled as they flew into the air.

"Issei-chan do you have a destination in mind?" Ruby asked. "Prism field is still on cooldown so we can't use that yet."

"Take us to the part way to the park for now." Issei commanded her. "Staying in the air would be too dangerous, we can run the rest of the way there."

After a few minutes they flew down and started to run.

"Sei is there any reason why you chose the park?" Medb asked him.

"I stored some mystic codes that might help us there." Issei stated. "I hidden it well so they shouldn't have found it yet. We just need to exit from this place, grab it, and come back. Although with the recent track record I have right now, you really shouldn't take my word for it. Just in case here."

Medb looked surprised as she found several pieces of quartz placed on her free hand. They all contained prana that she could feed on, but more importantly.

"Why are they so low quality?" She asked.

"Do I look like I have the money to buy high-quality gems?" Issei shot back. "I'm not overflowing with money Medb. I have a budget which is pitifully small to begin with."

She shrugged in response and pocketed them.

By the time they reached the park Issei was panting and Medb looked barely winded by the run.

"Why are you not tired?" He asked. "We ran for 2 miles."

"Despite my container being fragile, it's still above the average human Sei. You barely used any spells to reinforce your body didn't you?" She stated it without the air of arrogance that most would expect. "You're running out of prana aren't you? That blow that Gremory dealt must've took a lot to heal."

"I'm just chalking it off to being rusty for after five years. There's a limit to what training in dreams can do and since the devils came and took care of all the problems here in this town, I haven't stepped in combat for a while. My magecraft may have improved, but I lost a lot of my combat skills due to not using them for long.

"Well that explains why we didn't sense anything strange about you till now." Kiba stepped out from the nearby tree. "Hi Issei do you mind if we talk a bit." He materialized a pure black sword and pointed it to Issei.

"Yeah Issei, do you mind?" Saji also stepped out. On his wrist was some sort of metal creature and he pointed it to Issei.

"Hnn." Issei looked behind and saw that the man caught up to them.

"Maybe the park wasn't that good of an idea after all." Issei smiled nervously as he and Medb went back to back.

Judging by Saji's scowl things were not going to end well.

* * *

Medb couldn't fight and Issei sucked when it came to fighting more than a single person at a time. Those were the fact right now. He had enough prana in him to fight against them, but if they dragged it out for too long he would lose.

The only option right now was to end it as fast as possible, but to do that an opportunity must arise.

"Hey Kiba-chan and Saji-chan mind if you let us go for now?" Ruby asked them

"So you can talk." Saji glared at the mystic code. "I assumed that you were just a stupid charm Issei carried around."

"So did I to a lesser extent. I found it strange that Issei would carry a tacky charm."

"Tacky?! Stupid?! I'll have you know that I am a beautiful stick; I just hit the wrong target audience!" Ruby yelled outraged. "Issei-chan let's teach them a lesson!"

"Like that's really the time for that!" Issei tsukkomied the kaleidostick and swung her to the ground.

"Oww Issei-chan."

"There's no time for this comedy routine." Issei scratched his head irritated. "Anyways Kiba ask away, Saji could you too. Ask what you want about me, but before that, do you mind introducing me to the new guy behind me?"

"Loup Garou." The man replied roughly. "Rook."

"Rook? Well that doesn't matter, ask what you want guys."

"Why did you become friends with me?" Both asked at the same time. "Was there a motive?"

Issei stared at them incredulously for a few seconds and then laughed.

"Doesn't everything have a motive behind it? Friendships are formed because people want to gain things from the connection you form. Whether it would be trust or a desire to not be alone, motives could be good or bad things. But Kiba we were never really friends."

"..."

"I honestly didn't care if you were a devil or not. I'd never really tried to pry into the problems you had because you never really wanted to. To form connections is something you are afraid of doing isn't that right? Our relationship could be described as close acquaintances at most.

You only convinced yourself that we were friends, but at the same time you kept me at a distance."

Bread and circus, the Romans did it as a distraction to prevent the citizens from complaining. Was Kiba doing something similar? To distract himself from the truth.

Issei spun, he twirled round and round till he faced Saji.

"The reason why I became friends with you is because you were interesting. Unlike Kiba you really did treat me close to you and thanks for that."

"Interesting?" Saji asked confused.

"A transfer student from Tokyo declaring that he's in love with the Student Council President on the first day. Also the fact we shared similar interests really helped."

"That's all? Kiba gets a whole sob story about trusting people and my reason is that I was interesting?!"

"Is that all? I don't think friendship has to be more than that." Issei said. "You've been reading too much manga haven't you? Like I said I'd never cared if you guys were devils or not. Did I ever pry into your own business or secrets or taken advantage of it?"

He didn't. In his own way Issei respected them and never used their bonds as an advantage. They couldn't say anything in response.

"I'm sorry, but for today I'll take advantage of you guys." Issei said quietly.

Immediately after he said that, red tinted stars bound them in place.

"Loup Garou was it? I'll have you go to sleep first. You're probably more than just a devil, but to manage to escape my bindings proves that you are more of a problem. Good night." With a single tap from Ruby a magic circle appeared sending the man to sleep.

"I won't let you win!" Saji yelled and broke free from his binding. From the object on his arm a pale blue ribbon shot off and headed towards Issei. Issei turned around to see it wrap around his hand.

"What is this?" Issei asked as he saw the ribbon glow brighter. "Don't tell me it's?!"

"My sacred gear absorption line. It has the ability to absorb the energy from the target." Saji grinned. "I guess you didn't expect that coming."

"Like… I said, I didn't pry or investigate you guys." Issei gave a weak grin as more ribbons appeared and tied him up. "I guess that's my fault for being clueless about your abilities."

Medb stared at him as more ribbons wrapped around him. She couldn't go near to help him or else she would disappear. She couldn't so anything to watch as the boy weakly smiled at his friend. It was the fear of death that prevented her from moving, the fear that she would end up being back in the dream.

He only had one arm free and Ruby was buried under the layers of ribbon. Without that wand he couldn't fight.

"But you really did underestimate me to think that this would be enough to stop me." Issei held out two pieces of quartz in his hand. If Loup was still awake he could tell that they both were low quality, but it was enough for a single spell.

"BOOST!" In a single motion Issei threw the quartz as Saji. It was a weak throw where it probably would only go halfway before falling to the ground. It wouldn't make it to the target, it was clear in everyone's eyes that it would fail.

Issei snapped his fingers a few moments after.

One gem exploded in a funnel of wind that shot out the other stone like a bullet. It soared in the air and hitted Saji's stomach. Immediately after a circle formed, it shattered on contact and Saji fell to the ground.

The ribbons vanished and Issei walked up to the last person.

"Hey Issei." Kiba looked down not willing to reveal his face to Issei.

"Maybe next time Kiba, since I'm in a hurry. After all your friends could be here at any moment." One light tap from Ruby later and Kiba had fallen into the bliss of sleep.

"Medb are you okay?" Issei looked drained and very exhausted. "Seems like Saji drained a bit too much of my energy. I guess I'm at around one-fourth of my original capacity."

"Issei-chan I suggest you use the Avenger card." Ruby interrupted Medb with a concern tone and waved a tarot card in her wing.

"Self Recovery Mana skill? I guess I have no choice right now." He put the card in front of Ruby. "Include." A black battle standard replaced the wand. The cloth was currently wrapped around the pole so it looked more like a spear than a flag.

"Medb do you think you can support me right now?"

She wordlessly grabbed his arm and draped it over her shoulder. With his other hand he used the standard as a cane.

"In about ten minutes I should be able to fight decently." Issei evaluated his current condition. "We just need to wait until then."

"Are you thinking of going somewhere Hyoudou-san?"

Medb and Issei looked up in the air to see several girls with bat wings. He looked to the person who spoke it and blanched. Sona Shitori landed on the ground with a light flap of her wings before putting it away. Rias Gremory also landed the same way and so did the rest of the girls one by one.

Great, it was now the time to think fast.

* * *

There was a bounded field on, it was similar to the type that the devils would use in rating games. Don realized that as he walked to the convenience store. He watched a few clips back then when he was in the Grigori.

Seems like tonight will be a busy night. Well it wasn't his problem anyway.

As he exited the store and bought some canned drinks he heard a voice.

"Oh Dohnaseek, long time no see." He turned around to see a familiar girl wearing a nun's habit.

"Yes it has been a long time hasn't it." He held out a canned drink to her. "Do you want one girl?"

"Thank you." She took it and opened it with some difficulty. After taking a sip she looked up at the sky. "Do you miss them Dohnaseek?"

"First of all we should move. We're blocking the door." The man suggested.

"Will the park be a good place?" Asia asked him. "I have some business to go there anyways."

He nodded and they both walked to the park which wasn't really that they got there, Asia sat on the swing set and and took another small sip of her drink. They were quiet, but the atmosphere wasn't awkward at all.

"Do I miss them? Yes I suppose, but we weren't really all that close. We known each other for little over a month before we came here. We were just runts at the Grigori for being two-winged, just the bottom of the barrel. What we had in common was that we didn't want to be like that anymore."

He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, by using a small ball of light. Asia stared at him a bit disapprovingly, but he ignored it.

"Raynare was the one who united us. She told us that we wouldn't be like this if we helped her. If she got a rare sacred gear life would be better for us. We first didn't believe her, but then we found you. An exiled maiden of the church, a girl who possessed a rare sacred gear."

"Twilight Healing." Asia stared at the two rings that adorned her hand.

"Yes. That's when we started to believe her and followed her into this town. Our wish was to improve the live we had, even if it led to your death. Our selfish wish was part of the reason why we acted so cruel to you. To prevent us from getting too attached, to ready ourselves for when we killed you."

"Then Kiba came." Asia mused. "I remember meeting him. At that moment I learned how empty he was, but he chose to help in the end. Was it just because of this sacred gear? Everyone seems to want it and I can't seem to get rid of it."

"That boy…" Flashes of memories of the slain Raynare who had several demonic swords embedded in her body. "I can't really blame him. We all have our own motives and selfish wishes. Things clash and it was just us that ended up being the losers."

"Why this town? Why was this town chosen?" Asia asked him. "Despite the dangers why did you come here?"

"We're the lowest of the low remember. We lacked the proper materials to create a procedure to remove your sacred gear and to safely implant it in Raynare. This town made it possible for us to even do these things."

They sat in silence neither of them spoke before the girl cried.

"I should hate you and your group for trying to kill me, but why do I feel sad that they died?" She asked herself as tears continued to flow down her face. The canned juice fell on the floor spilling the colored liquid all over the dirt floor. "I should hate you, but I can't. I need to forgive you because it just isn't right if I don't."

He stared at the sobbing girl, but did not reach out to comfort her. He didn't have the right to do that as the one who nearly killed her. He just watched as the tears she shed slowly disappeared.

"You're too nice for your own good." The man dropped his cigarette and smothered it with his shoe.

"Why do you continue to stay in this town?" She sniffled, but otherwise her eyes was filled with concern. "Kiba and the others will find you and kill you if they figure out you're still alive."

"If they find me, then they can kill me. It's only right since I was a coward who ran." Yes unlike them the man ran away from the battle. Unlike the others who fought, he hid and escaped. "I suppose I'll stay in this town until I find and answer."

"To what?"

"How to continue on." He said turned his back on her.

"If so then leave this town and live." Asia said. "If you die here then it's the end. Go and find happiness outside this town. We both know you won't be able to find it here."

"Perhaps." He replied evenly. He pulled his fedora slightly down.

He left and did not look back at the girl.

* * *

"Ruby turn back." Issei commanded. Ruby immediately shifted to her wand form.

"Shitori-san and Gremory-san I presume as club leaders, you both must be the leaders of this fine group you have here."

"Stop with the flattery Hyoudou and give us the girl." Sona's glasses glinted in the moonlight. "My real surname is Sitri Hyoudou."

Issei supposed that it was a high-ranking name and it was supposed to intimidate him. He didn't really know his enemy or devil politics so it didn't matter. All she was, was just an enemy,

"Over my dead body." Issei replied. "Ruby!"

"Magical Stick Ruby here and now see ya!"

A slow ball of energy flew out and exploded into a ball of smoke. When Akeno cleared the air the two were gone.

"Rias do you have something you need to tell me?" Sona's voice was slowly getting higher after each word.

"Hyoudou-san is a magical boy." Akeno giggled as she said it. "Maybe he and your sister well get along well."

"Tomoe go scout them out. Send us the signal when you find them." Sona ordered.

With a quick yes Tomoe Meguri ran to scout.

"We will talk about this later Rias and there is no way that these two will ever meet." Sona declared.

"Medb you need to listen to me." Issei said in a hush tone. "Take Ruby and go. The gems I gave you will provide you with enough energy until I come back. Ruby will guide you and I'll meet up with you later."

"Bu-!" Medb was about to say something, but Issei held out his hand in a gesture to stop.

"Ruby revert and include assassin." Within moments the battle standard changed into a plain skull mask that only covered the upper part of the face. "Wear this Medb. We don't have time to talk about this. The gems should give you the energy to activate and use the presence concealment functions. Follow Ruby's order and I'll get back to you soon."

Issei was back to his normal clothes now. He held a single card in his hand that said Avenger.

Medb put on the mask and vanished from plain sight.

"Install!" He yelled. A magic circle appeared under him and his outfit changed once again. Slim black metal armor engraved in flame patterns covered his legs and arms. Several iron chains hung over his shoulder and his waist. At his side was a slim sword and on his right hand was a battle standard. His hair lost its volume and dropped down. Around his neck was a pure black metal collar chains attached to it.

"What is the synchronicity percentage right now?" Issei asked and then cursed when he got a response.

"It's not even half-way?" Ddraig asked.

"Not even a quarter. I'll probably have to rely on you Ddraig." Issei said. "Berserker did ask for a crazy request after all. It's expected with the luck we have."

"Anyways let's meet up with them." Ddraig said. "The sooner we finish this, the better."

"Agreed." Issei ran back to the park and spotted Tomoe Meguri headed towards them.

"Hah!" She yelled and swung her katana at him. He blocked it with his battle standard and ended up pushing the girl back.

"BOOST!" Within moments Issei took the advantage and swung his battle standard straight to her stomach. She ended up flying off and landed in front of Sona and Rias.

"Twice Critical?!" Tomoe Meguri got up with a bit of trouble. "You also have a sacred gear?!"

"Yes I have a sacred gear, you're free to think what you like about what it is." Issei smirked at them. "Before all of this I have to warn you guys."

"What is it?" Rias asked. "Is to tell us to not interfere?"

"Yes Gremory-san. I suggest you leave while you still have a chance." Issei pointed his battle standard at them. The smile he gave resembled those of a savage predator ready to kill, while his brown eyes mocked them. "What I mean is that you won't be able to defeat me you pathetic bats!"

Akeno Himejima was the one who attacked first by sending streams of fire at the boy. The boy spun his standard blocking the flames, but failed to block the dark crimson orbs that followed after. With the reflexes gifted by Avenger Issei barely managed to dodge the attack, but it slightly grazed his torso and his right thigh.

Gritting his teeth he sent a torrent of flames back and summoned black pikes made of pure energy to float around him.

Sona summoned water to block the flames and then shaped the water into a long serpent that charged straight at him.

Issei in response used his pikes to block the water serpent.

They used that short moment to surround the boy. The air crackled with demonic energy as they all glared at him

"I never thought that I would be surrounded by girls right now." Issei leered at them, his tone obviously filled with sarcasm. "I guess I'm one lucky guy."

Tomoe Meguri ran up to him and rammed her knee to his back and then used her other leg to kick his torso. She jumped back, but Issei swung his standard hitting her in the stomach. Using the momentum he launched her towards the incoming Tsubasa Yura.

Several blasts of demonic energy was sent towards him. Summoning pikes in the air Issei spun them in order to block the several blasts.

"Wow Rias do you mind telling me your ability? You made me use two of my pikes to block it." Issei commented as he smoothly deflected the spear thrust sent by Tsubaki Shinra.

Only failing to see Koneko Toujou throwing a punch towards his stomach.

He flew to the nearby tree and screamed when he landed on impact. Behind him the tree cracked under the shear pressure it suddenly received. The boy slid down, but then got up using the standard as a support. Blood could be seen leaking from his mouth as he stood to face them.

The two leaders walked up towards him. The belief that they won was seen on their faces as they walked towards him.

"You'll pay for messing with us Hyoudou." Rias voice thundered through the courtyard. "To underestimate us means death."

"I'll have to agree with her." Sona's voice was quiet, but carried it's own strength that made it heard. "You really are a fool to fight against the Godslayer."

"Hahaha I can't really believe it either. I've been really rusty ever since retirement and I didn't really expect something of this level to appear in this town." Issei laughed except rather than one from joy it sounded like music notes in a harsh dissonance. "I really have the worst luck don't I? I suppose I really need to stop playing around with you guys for a bit. Let me show you guys a bit more of my power."

He one smooth and fluid movement he pulled out the black elegant sword from the sheath. At that very moment the devils froze. Curses filled the blade more powerful than the ones that Kiba could make with his sacred gear.

They were devils, creatures who ruled over the sins of man. All of them knew about curses, but that blade was at another level. It wouldn't be off if it stood at among the famed demonic blades like Gram or Danself.

"Do you feel it? The hatred and curses within this blade? You devils probably can considering that your domain is over sins itself. This isn't even the full potential of this weapon. Now cower as you wish for your survival."

The flames that now surrounded him were more potent than before carrying the wishes of vengeance within their blaze. Pikes doubles in numbers as they soared the sky waiting for their commands. In the center stood the boy who seemed more of a demon that mothers would tell to frighten children.

"I suggest you run now if you still want to live."

He threw his standard in the air as it spun wildly. The boy, no demon, charges at them with flames emanating from the sword. Rias tried to blast him with her power of destruction, but he simply cut them into halves. He cut her leg deep earning a cry of pain before sending a pike to skewer her arm into the ground as she fell down.

Sona tried to use her water to defend, but it simply evaporated in the face of the intensity of the flames. She screamed when the flames licked her palms and Issei, without any hesitation, burrowed a pike within her leg.

They were both still awake and the duo tried to tell their peerage to run. They didn't listen though, as they charges at the smiling boy with fury.

"Pathetic, do you think you'll survive?" He laughed again and caught the standard with one hand.

"Boost." His brooch did not yell out, instead it whispered the words.

Issei moved, his body leaving afterimages in each step he took. He moved in front of Tsubaki pikes floating behind him as they poised ready to strike.

"Mirror Alice." A full length appeared in front of her as protection. Issei didn't know it, but it had the ability to reflect back the attack and doubling it at the same time.

"I don't know what it does, but do I really want to find out what your pathetic mirror can do?" Tsubaki felt a pike stabbing her from the back as Issei moved to the side. "It's not like I can only summon these pikes behind me, Fool."

"Burn! Burn!" He cried out.

"Boost."

Flames erupted from the ground, almost like snakes they wrapped around Tsubasa Yura. She screamed as she tried to escape from the fire that threatened to kill her.

Koneko shattered the ground as she took a step. She shot herself towards Hyoudou with her fist aimed for his face.

"Maybe you should look out first before you attack, Bat." Issei suggested.

Several pikes struck her down, pinning her arms and legs to the floor. She screamed out in pain, but was still conscious. Yellow eyes glared at them with all the beastly quality she had. The boy didn't look bothered at all.

Ruruko Nimura didn't even take a step before a pike appeared and shot through her leg.

Momo Hanakai tried to defend herself with a barrier before they shot through.

The consecutive rings of boost echoed in the air. It didn't really take long for them to realize that he didn't have a Twice Critical.

"Boosted Gear!" Akeno replied shocked.

"Ah yes." Issei replied as he quickly summoned fire to take her down. "I wield the power of the Welsh Dragon. One of the two beings that forced the three biblical factions to unite in order to take him down. Did you really think you had a chance against me?"

With a wave of his sword Reya Kusaka fell, failing to land a single blow on him.

"Please stop now. They all are unable to fight." Issei turned to the swing set. She was the last girl standing, but there was no hostility emanating from her. Only a sad expression adorned her face as she stared at the girls who were defeated.

"Asia Argento." Issei stared at the girl clothed in the outfit of the church.

* * *

 **Guess what guys I decided to ditch summer homework for now and work on this. To be honest I was planning to take out this fight scene near the end because it ended up being too long for my tastes, but whatever. You guys actually deserve a fight scene for reasons I'm trying to think of right now. Let's just say you guys had good comments.**

 **Highschool Dxd needs to delve into more of Sona's peerage because while looking it up on the wiki I didn't really see anything interesting about them. Questions concerns ask me. I figured out the PM function so I guess you can do that too.**

 **Fate Lover: Assassin is not true Assassin from fate stay night. She's actually the one from fate prototype fragments of blue and silver… Or was it silver or blue? Either or who really cares. Anyways she's not the one from fate strange fake because that girl is to OP for me. Also I'm pretty sure she would kill Issei because of her zealous nature.**

 **Also I guess I lied. My superpower is to make the focus character a background character. Cu Chulainn may be the focus character along with Medb and Scathach, but due to my reality marble, Demotion of the Title, they get very little appearances. Medb does appear, but she can't fight right now so hence the demotion.**

 **Avenger was the first to Install. Yay! You all just got fooled by me. Hahahaha, sorry to those who expected Cu Chulainn. Now you know how I felt in the Da Vinci event when I expected Da Vinci herself to be added to the Gacha. You just got Jeanne Altered!**

 **That sounded funnier in my head. Sorry about that. I'll explain my reason later.**

 **Dohn's story will end next chapter by the way. Since next chapter will be the last chapter of this arc. I never really gave this arc a name. Let's call it the Witch of Death and the Runaway Queen. Next arc will be called the Artificial System and the Seven Holy Swords.**


	4. The Crimson Spear of Death

Asia Argento was the one who moved first. She didn't run towards him screaming or activate any special abilities to hit him long distance, instead she just walked towards him. Her pace neither increased nor decreased, and not a shred of malice was seen on her face. It was a scene from a legend where Saint Martha tamed the dragon. Yes, if the people still conscious had to describe the scene in front of them, they would liken it to tale of the Saint and the dragon who was ignorant of love.

"Hyoudou-san… we'll surrender from the battle." Asia stopped and and stared at him directly in the eye. "Isn't there someone waiting for you?"

"Yes there is Argento-san, but are you sure they will surrender? For all I know they can be plotting their revenge after this is over." Issei sniffed and turned his head over to the fallen crowd of devils."As the victor of the battle I guess I get to make the choice. Whether to kill them or to let them live."

He stated this as if it was a fact. If you couldn't survive you were worthless, if you weren't strong then there was no need to live. History is always written by the victors, so what will be the truth that this boy will write? Will he write a massacre or something else much darker?

"You won't kill them wouldn't murder your fellow students." The blonde hair girl said it with absolute certainty.

"Ha that's some pretty big blind faith you have on me there. What makes you so sure of it?"

"They are all alive right now Hyoudou-san, that's my evidence. If you wanted to kill them, it would've led to a more faster conclusion to this battle. You were holding back weren't you?" It wasn't a question and they both knew it. She had seen through him easily.

She extended her hand. On her fingers there were two rings side by side. A green calming light was let out from it, one that promised to heal anything. A mother's love is what this light could be akin to. Full of understanding and warmth.

"Twilight Healing: Smile of the Holy Mother. It suits you remarkably well Argento-san, for you to have a healing based sacred gear." Issei stared at the glowing rings warily.

"Do you wished to be healed?" She held out her hand. Issei knew the moment he touched it, he would be healed.

It was tempting to have his wounds healed within an instant. That way he could be better prepared for Scathach, when she arrived. His wounds hung in the open air and he felt blood coming up his throat. A single touch would save him from the pain and restore him to full health. All he had to do was take her hands. Subtly his hand moved towards hers. A single touch and he would be restored.

"Sorry, but I don't wished to be healed. Not if it means being put under your debt." Issei rejected her hand and moved a step back.

It was a stupid choice because he knew that the girl would never take advantage of it. Even from the short interactions he had with her in class Issei knew that Asia wasn't that type of person who would take advantage of anybody, rather it was the opposite. Still Issei Hyoudou made his decision.

"You're right though. I wouldn't kill them and with your sacred gear you could probably save them. Even if they didn't have you, I'm pretty sure they could request the famed phoenix tears. I was betting on that fact since I don't really want to kill people who go to the same school as I do." Issei walked away, but before he left the park he stopped. "An advice for you Argento-san. You're too nice for your own good and soon it'll lead you somewhere not so nice."

"Someone told me that already." She spoke this softly and tilted her head to the ground. When she looked up the boy was gone.

"Issei Hyoudou..." Loup Garou woke up and looked at the spot where he just was a few minutes ago.

"Don't Loup." Asia held out her hand in a gesture to stop him. "We're pulling back. Help me heal them first."

Loup wanted to disagree, but the look that Asia gave stopped him. Instead he chose to just stare at that spot for a few moments and soon looked away.

* * *

"Hah, whenever I seem to use install it seems like my personality changes a bit." Issei sighed as he ran towards the school. "This is the part where I hate using install. I mean sure I gain strength and knowledge, but to be honest it gets so embarrassing when I don't act like myself."

"If Little Tool was here she would sprout something like being out of character or the cause of a bad fanfiction writer." Ddraig sighed. "I don't know where she gets all her terms, but what I do know is that when I meet her creator I swear I'm going to kill him Partner."

"I don't think we'll ever see him Ddraig. I mean we met Ruby when she crash landed on some hobo in the park with two cards attached to her. She declared that I'll be a magical girl before correcting herself." Issei remembered the experience and slightly winced. "We did some weird stuff during that time. I mean there was also the Holy Grail War, but with Ruby declaring that I need some fanservice scenes was really strange."

"Only an insane person would create Little Tool..." Ddraig stated, before pausing. "He'd have to be a genius to create a tool with that much power, but still insane for imbuing her the personality of a pervert."

"A pervert? I mean Ruby gets excited from seeing those kinds of things, but she does has her limit. Isn't porn one of them?"

"I suspect she stopped porn because of you." Ddraig muttered.

"What?"

"Oh look Partner we're here." Ddraig pointed it out.

Issei stopped and looked at the entrance of the school. All the lights were currently out, but to a person wielding the soul of a heroic spirit it didn't pose a problem at all. He lit a small fire above his hand and walked in the building.

"I just hope Ruby realized that this was the place she was supposed to go." Issei said as he went across the dark hallways and up the stairs.

It was something like a in the scene of a horror movie, walking in the empty school corridor at night. If it was any other time it could have been seen a test of courage activity, but Issei was more worried about setting off the fire alarm at the school then ghosts.

"Ddraig, does the school have any ghosts?" Issei asked the brooch.

"Hmm, well I'm trapped inside a sacred gear so I wouldn't be able to sense the outside world as much. I would only be able to perceive ghosts if you yourself was able to see them."

"Then how did you know Kiba and the others were devils? I was unable to identify them so wouldn't it apply to that?" Issei frowned.

"No Partner, they are among the living. It just that the seeing the dead takes a special skill to have or they have to show themselves. Unless they all conglomerate together, we won't be able to sense them. The dead cannot really affect that physical plane or the real number plane since you prefer that term."

"So you were able to see them as devils… Hmmm. How do the reincarnation system works for the devils anyways. You told me after the Great War they started a system to replenish the population. I really don't understand how that falls under reincarnation though."

"Partner you're finally wish to gain knowledge about them? That's unexpected." Ddraig couldn't mask the subtle tone of surprise as he spoke. It was really unexpected that Issei was willing to delve into learning them.

"Well my cover got blown after all. Know thy enemy, I guess." Issei shrugged as he continued walking. "I don't see how transforming the body could alter the circle of transmigration for the soul."

From what Issei knew it couldn't really be called reincarnation. Reincarnation was more of a concept from the East rather than the West and it didn't really explain the process of how it changed the soul in question. A process where the soul is recycled into a new body after all, but information from the past life is wiped clean from the soul. Appearance could remain the same, but the memories of the soul is lost in the process.

"You're half correct Partner." Ddraig said. "You could saw it's like how a vampire converts his victims into fellow vampires using the venom they produce. Even if the body becomes one of the vampire, you can't really say they reincarnated to one. The evil pieces are the same as vampire venom. They only transform the body, but during the process that soul is tainted."

"The soul is tainted?" Issei asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Partner do you think such magic doesn't have a price attached to it? Devil values are really different from human values anyways. As beings that recklessly played with the soul of humans, they see it as something different from you Partner. There is a cost that most don't care about or never find out."

"That sounds really harsh." The light clanging of metal echoed through the empty halls with each step. "What exactly is the cost?"

"The system that the god of the bible created wouldn't allow the aberration known as the devils exist within the system of heaven. The devils' lack a perfect system that allows the salvation of the soul. If they die, where do you think the existence known as the soul would go?"

Where the soul would go? Following Ddraig's words Issei came to a hypothesis.

"They don't go anywhere." Issei concluded. "Once they die it's over. There would be no salvation or punishment for them after death. Would the same apply to the angels or the fallen?"

"Partner you would be surprised. Most of us in the moonlit world lack a system of salvation that would save us. Gods, monsters, and everything in between were dreamed up by humans. We never had a future where we would reach a system of salvation. That's why most of us could be considered immortal and unaging as compensation." Ddraig wistfully stated, but there was a hint of bitterness to it. "I may have experienced the void if God hadn't stuffed me in this container."

"So humans are the only ones that have the potential to reach salvation?" Issei questioned again. "What about those who are part human?"

"They receive salvation, but those who are reincarnated cannot." Ddraig stated this cold hard truth.

Issei wondered if any of the devils in this town knew of it. The cold hard truth that would shake any human. After all if humanity didn't wish for salvation it wouldn't have existed at all.

"Looks like we're here Partner." The Welsh dragon pointed out.

Issei looked at the door that was his classroom and slid open the door. It was dark, but the combined light of the moonlight pouring through the window and the flame in his hand illuminated the room.

The classroom was empty and looked undisturbed without a single desk or chair out of place.

"Medb I'm here." Issei whispered. The tiny flame in his hand went out leaving only the moonlight as a source of light.

On his desk she appeared with the skull mask in her hand. It immediately turned back to a wand and Ruby charged right at him. Wordlessly the ornament clung to him and Issei walked to the girl.

She didn't look at him at first. The former-queen looked through the window staring at the sky that contained very little stars. Her arms hugged her legs as she sat on top of her desk. The girl didn't seem to notice him approaching her, but then as he got closer and closer she turned towards him. Medb smiled at him, but it lacked the usual shine as she looked at his wounded form.

"Are you alright?" Issei asked her.

"You're hurt." She noted his injuries, but then averted her eyes. Wordlessly without looking she handed back the Assassin card to him.

"..."

Medb turned her back on him and pulled out the chair. Her hands gestured for him to sit down. Issei obliged and they ended up watching the dark sky together in silence.

"The sky is so empty." Medb broke the silence. "It's so different here. So many of the things I never seen before and all these invention that were made. This world has really changed when I was gone."

It made sense considering she just escaped to the modern world just recently. As a being who lived in the past she should be confused and scared from how civilization advanced this much. The fact that she wasn't really shocked, spoke much about her adaptability.

"When we finally get this over with, I'll show you the night sky filled with stars. I'll explain the technologies that were made after your time. The world did really change, but you haven't strayed that far back. You'll learn more about this world." Issei spoke softly, but it had a certain firmness that comforted the girl. "You'll meet Cu Chulainn after all this is over."

"If only if it was that simple Sei." She shook her head. "I want to see him, but now I really don't. After all I was the one lead him to the end because he broke his oath with me."

"If you had to meet him then, what would you say?" Issei turned towards her. "What would say Medb?"

"Yes, what would you say Maive, for orchestrating the end of my student?"

They all turned around to see the red eyed girl leaning on the doorway, her eyes filled with mild annoyance.

"Scathach…" Medb whispered and materialized her whip.

Issei raised his hand in front of Medb in a protective stance.

"Yes, what would you say Maive. As the woman of many love what can you really say to Setanta. Sorry for not seducing you sooner?" The Immortal Witch asked sarcastically. "I remember leading you to the Haunted Realm, a warrior queen who died foolishly due to a piece of cheese. A fitting end for a girl like you I suppose. A girl that always thought she was in power due to having sex with a bunch of men. In the end you were nothing more than a little bitch."

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Medb shot back. "I don't mind at all. In fact it is a compliment for me. I ruled the land of Connacht as its queen and people rejoiced under my rule. What are you witch? You're nothing more than a lonely girl who is unable to kill herself. Just waiting for eternity as everything vanishes from your fingertips. Ruling over the dead who are in a dreamlike sleep. Aren't you the pitiful one?."

"Aren't you the same Maive? Can you really say what you had was love?" Scathach scoffed when there was only silence responding to her. "Men who never understood your faults. Never managing to fulfill your conditions to be without fear, meanness, or jealousy? Cu Chulainn just made you realize you didn't own anything in the world. Isn't that why you fell in love with him?"

"No…" Medb denied it. "I loved him because he was the only who fulfilled my conditions."

"Then why did you kill him?" Scathach was across from them, separated by three seats. She sent a chilling glare towards them.

"..."

"I had enough of this. Ha, I really seem to lose control of my emotion whenever it comes to Setanta." Scathach ran her fingers through her hair sighing. "Anyway, boy please hand her over."

"Over my dead body." Issei refused to move.

"That girl doesn't have the will to go on anymore." Scathach stated pointing her finger to the girl. Medb's expression couldn't be seen, but it was obvious that she was in despair. "If anything I'm doing you a favor boy. It's time to stop playing the villain and begin the role of a just hero."

She was right. Medb was the villain in this story and Issei was an accomplice for helping. There would be no award or honor in helping the pink haired girl who is in despair right now. Issei had the choice in his hands. Whether to give up Medb and be spared or to refuse and have the chance of dying.

"This is her second chance. Cu Chulainn told me protect her and I will." Issei moved in front of Medb. "Medb didn't you come to this town for a reason? To meet with him. This is your second chance to make things right again Medb. Even if you didn't love him, he still asked me to protect you. Are you not going to answer him?"

"Ah so that's how you convinced her to come with you. You fed her a lie." Scathach moved closer, but then stopped due to the wall of flames that erupted between them. "Did you know that there are seven ramparts in the Haunted Realm? No, they are not literal structures. They are symbols to exemplify a fundamental truth you might not be aware off, due to your foolishness.

The dead will not revive. That is the merciless truth.

So do you understand now?"

A crimson spear was swung, but was blocked by a black banner. They came in rapid succession only to be blocked or diverted to another direction. Several pikes shot off from different direction forcing Scathach to be on the defensive.

"Cu Chulainn cannot be alive. True resurrection isn't possible and you know it. You are nothing more than a con artist slandering the name of the Child of Light.

If resurrection was possible then I wouldn't be alone."

Several crimson spears shot out to only meet pure black pikes.

"You are lonely aren't you. To not believe in a miracle." The boy uttered this statement almost whispering.

"What is this miracle then? Show me one." She challenged him.

"I'll end this battle and survive with Medb! The roar of my soul has been honed by hatred! La Grondement Du Haine: Howl Loudly, My Resentment!" The battle standard unfurled itself revealing a black insignia of a dragon, unleashing a burning hell in the classroom as dozens of pikes erupted the ground forcing the God Slayer to move back.

"I'll finish this Godslayer." Issei snarled as the classroom began to burn under the intense heat.

Pikes were sent at high speeds towards the godslayer. Jumping back she deflected all of them with ease and a inscribed a rune in the floor.

Suddenly frost appeared on her side of the classroom dousing the flames within the intense embrace of ice. Hot vs. Cold, the two temperature battled for dominance. Flames melted the ice and ice forced the flames to die down.

"BOOST!" Ddraig yelled out. The flames swelled out and the number of pikes doubled, but the godslayer did not seemed deterred.

The realm of ice on her side increased as glaciers formed and threatened to swallow the flames up in its' icy embrace.

No it wasn't just at that level. What surrounded her was a frozen hell. Niflheim, where the goddess of death ruled in Norse mythology. The inverted version of what the christians envisioned their punishment to be. Where the flames froze on contact leaving delicate structures on the spot. It was a world on that level.

Primordial Rune, it was the same skill that a certain valkyrie had. The power output if used to it's full potential could be considered as a third noble phantasm if used at full power. Issei lacked the stores to use it to its full potential, but Scathach had more than enough prana in her to accomplish this feat.

Issei Hyoudou could not beat Scathach. This could be defined as a rule, maybe a definite fact. Even a miracle would not be able to stop her. That is why he didn't hesitate unleashing his noble phantasm. To buy some time as he prepared his last trump card. The one that would definitely end the battle for sure.

"Without a doubt this girl is a monster." Issei glared at the girl who swung the crimson spear destroying multiple pikes with a single blow. "Ruby is prism field ready?"

"Yes Issei-chan I'm ready! Just give me your go." The wand saluted.

Issei broke the wall with his pikes. He then grabbed Medb and threw her out of the window.

"Sei! Can't you be more gentle with me?!" Medb screamed as she soared up in the air.

"Sorry about that Medb!" Issei jumped in the air and deactivated his noble phantasm.

Within that moment the world froze, coating the entire class in ice. Scathach walked to the window staring at the falling boy and girl. The battle standard was gone and within its place was a familiar red spear. The same one she threw at them when she saw them together the first time.

She scoffed when she saw the boy in a throwing stance. Gae Bolg is indeed a powerful weapon. Her's may just be a prototype that's just a step under, but it still contained a large amount of destruction if used right. The thing is it couldn't be used right, not especially by this boy.

Gae Bolg is a spear fashioned from the bones of the Coinchenn, but if it was simply just that then everybody would be able to use it. It was the combination between the technique and the spear that allowed this weapon to gain its name, its legend. Not even Medb knew of this fact and the only person who knew the technique was herself and him.

It was an impossibility…

If it was an impossibility then what was she watching?

A red cloud of prana swirled around him, like a hurricane of blood with him in the center. The crimson speared he held in his hand glowed bright. His chocolate brown eyes were crimson red, the familiar red shade that she saw many centuries ago.

"Are you really here Setanta?" She breathed out this slim possibility. She took her crimson spear and shifted her form to a throwing stance. That same red cloud that surrounded him formed around her too.

"BOOST!"

"Gae Bolg: Soaring Spear that Strikes with Death!" They both roared throwing their spears. They both looked at each other before the two spear collided and everything was engulfed within the red light.

"Ruby now!" Issei cried. Within moments of being caught up in the blast, they vanished leaving only colors the swirled in the air and soon those colors were swallowed up by the crimson star that threatened to devour everything.

Scathach grinned and vanished, leaving the school to be engulfed by the attack.

* * *

"It's almost like a star forming." Asia stared in awe at the brilliant sight that laid not to far off.

Kouh Academy was engulfed in a bright explosion the swallowed everything within its range. Even from here she felt the wind rush towards her due to the aftershock of the blast.

Rias Gremory was reminded of her ability. The power of destruction a bloodline ability she inherited from her mother who was part of the Bael family. It was a power that was feared and said to annihilate anything in its past. It was what made Rias a power type despite lacking the physical strength in combat. Is was due to this power that was feared by many that gave Rias the ability to stand on her two feet. There was nothing that could beat it in terms of destruction ability…

Until now. The sheer amount she felt from this was far more powerful from what she wielded. She glared at the explosion that shined brighter than any star in the sky.

"I realized it. The Immortal Witch is a monster, but Issei Hyoudou is a monster too for being able to stand up to her." She accepted this fact easily. "I need to become stronger, we need to become stronger to be able to fight against monsters like them." She stared at her fellow peerage members. They all finished recovering and were staring at the direction of the school with varied expression. They all had one thing in common though, determination.

The determination to reach the level where monsters roamed.

It would be hard, maybe near impossible, but they would do it. They will reach it some day.

Rias gave a glance to Sona and her peerage. They also had that same expression.

Rias and Sona could've gone through life without a worry due to their status. Fortunately these two ladies were not like that. They refused to stay under their siblings protection because they wanted to walk on their own two feet, to reach the future they desired.

* * *

The church was empty devoid of any life, in ruins, and was barely held together. It wouldn't be surprising if the building collapsed within a month or so.

At the top of the altar space rippled, no it cracked. Within the gaps an kaleidoscope of colors were shown, ever changing and never the same. Then space broke revealing a new scene through the broken area.

A boy and a girl broke fell through the area. The boy's outfit changed and a brown card fell to the ground.

"Hah hah hah." Issei panted and then vomited blood. The red fluid staining the faded red carpet with a darker stain.

"Sei!" Medb ran up to him and caught him as he fell down.

"Safe... or not." Ruby carried the avenger card in her wings and inserted it into Ddraig. "His circuits seemed to be going out of control at the moment. Think of it like the blood pressure suddenly dropping drastically in a short amount of time as comparison. Using the two noble phantasm consecutively will have its consequences."

"Will he die?" Medb asked Ruby.

"Hey I'm not gonna die. It happened a couple of times when we were fighting for our lives during the ritual. I just need some rest, but it seems like I'll be out of action for the rest of the night."

"You also got internal bleeding Issei-chan." Ruby finished her diagnostic. "Did you get this when you were fighting against the devils?"

"Yeah." Issei admitted. "Toujou-san managed to get a good punch at me."

"Can't you boost your recovery or magic?" Medb asked.

"I'm afraid I'm out of stamina. In fact it's taking my all to stay awake so the instant I use Ddraig I'll probably collapse." Issei shrugged weakly. Each word obviously took a struggle to say despite the casual tone it had.

"I'm sorr-!" Medb flinched as Issei flicked her hard on the forehead.

"Don't say something like that Medb." Issei sighed. "It's not your fault at all. I made my choice and I followed through it. You didn't force me to do this at gunpoint or anything like that. What I did was my choice. You have nothing to blame towards this."

"As much as I hate to agree, the boy has a point." Scathach emerged from the entrance of the church.

Medb clutched Issei tightly and glared at the Shadow.

"Don't worry I'm not here for you. I'm here to ask the boy a question." Scathach stabbed both of the spears she carried into the ground. She walked towards the boy and smiled. "I have to thank you for returning my spear."

"No problem I figured that you missed it a lot." Issei kept a straight face. "How did you manage to escape the blast unharmed?"

"I opened a gate to the Land of Shadows and escaped from there. After that I opened the gate again to another place in town and used the rune I put on you to track you." She explained with just a shrug. "Luckily I had the gate opened beforehand just in case you tired to escape through the door."

"Ah so if we tried to escape through the door…" Ruby nodded in realization.

"We would've been at your complete mercy." Ddraig finished. "Wait… when did you put a rune on us?"

"Like I said before I had enough of this chase." Scathach shrugged again. "Anyways I'm willing to make a deal."

"You didn't answer my question…" Ddraig's voice went unheard by everyone.

"Is it where I learned the technique of using Gae Bolg?" Issei asked. "For that how about your fragment of Dagda's cauldron and the promise to not hunt down Medb anymore."

"Don't get cheeky boy. You know that what you asked right now is too much. Anyways, the cauldron piece is a failsafe just in case Maive's soul ended up being destroyed in an attempt to catch her. I need it to restore the the distortion she caused when she left the Haunted Realm."

"It was worth a try at least." Issei sighed. "It also explains why you had it with you in the first place."

"At least you know how to bargain somewhat. A skill you obviously didn't learn from Setanta. To be honest that student of mine preferred to a fight first and then ask later stance. I never managed to beat that habit out of him." She grimaced at the thought. "So Issei Hyoudou, is Setanta here?"

She knew, but needed confirmation. After all the technique she used was only taught to one man. If it wasn't him, then what happened couldn't be explained.

"True resurrection isn't possible. Didn't you say that before?" Issei coughed and covered his hand. The metallic scent of iron spread through the air. "He isn't really alive, but he isn't really dead either. The interaction he has is limited in this world."

"I expected something like that. I suppose you have a plan to deal with the current container Maive possesses?" Scathach questioned him.

"I do, but I do have secrets I want to keep." Issei grinned. "I also expect you to keep what I said a secret."

"Shall we make another deal then?" Scathach cut a piece of the faded cloth from the carpet of the church. "On a contract that will ensure absolute binding."

"A geis… correct." Issei expression of casualness changed to nervousness as he watched the pool of blood he vomited earlier split and formed various runes and lines. Soon a magical circle was completed and it started to glow eerily. "Wasn't it because of this it lead to Setanta's death?"

"That was due to the multiple geis he places on himself. As long as you learn from his mistakes and not form multiples of this, you should be fine." Scathach stated this rather casually, but the savage grin of a predator was plastered on her face. "So shall we make a deal?"

"Conditions first." Issei managed to say without stammering.

"Do me three favors and be my champion for a short while. Since I'll be busy fixing what Medb did, I'll be gone from the world for a short period so during that time you'll be my champion."

Being a champion meant that Issei will have to fight those who wanted to fight against her. It was being the boss of a dungeon that had the key to the final boss.

"Wait… isn't that a bit too much?" Issei interrupted her. "The champion condition should be enough to keep this a secret, not to mention I'm not that strong."

"Don't worry you'll just need to deal with the small fries. The real strong ones will know to wait when I'm done, unless they're fools."

"That doesn't really comfort me at all." Ddraig plainly stated. "I like the current contractor I have Godslayer."

"Also you need to explain the three favors!" Ruby yelled. "The deal isn't balanced at all."

"Ah, but have you forgotten?" She used the butt of her spear to squish the boy's cheek. "You decided to take responsibility over Medb. That means you have to take the full brunt of her actions. I already owe Dagda a favor for using a piece of his precious cauldron."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You're just annoyed you owe a favor for Dagda aren't you?" Issei asked incredulous.

"Yes. Yes I am." She stated. "That's why you are going to do me the three favors as well as handling all the annoying people when I'm gone."

"This is the worst." Issei muttered.

"Did you say something?" She pushed the spear down with a bit more strength.

"Nothing!" Issei said rather loudly.

"Good. So do you swear by this geis that you'll agree to the conditions?" She put her spear to the side and held the contract.

"Yeah yeah." Issei sighed. "Will you keep my secret unless I say otherwise and stop hunting down Medb?"

"Yes I swear." Scathach let the circle vanish signifying the completion of the geis

"I'll go tell the devils that they could set down this barrier now. We'll meet again boy." The Shadow left the building leaving them alone in the ruined church.

Medb sighed in relief. "So what's this ritual you have planned?"

"It'll take a week to prepare so don't get let your guard down just yet." Issei warned. "For now just let me sleep." His eyes slowly closed and he entered the bliss of unconsciousness.

* * *

"So how did Medb managed to find you?" Issei asked as he laid himself on the warm grassy plains of Cu Chulainn's land. "The class card you're in is sealed pretty tight. Scathach may suspect, but I don't think she managed to figure it out. She is a person close to you after all, using you would've been a risky move."

His tail swished a bit, disturbing the grass. "It's because that woman is the closest to this me more than anyone else."

"This me?" Issei asked confused. "I'm pretty sure there's only one Cu Chulainn Berserker and that's you."

"I'm simply a servant, any orders you give I'll fulfill. The holy grail war you entered in was an irregular one. A single participant wouldn't create a war, but that is not the topic of our conversation right now. Normally I wouldn't be summoned because I am not the true Cu Chulainn, hence the irregularity."

"Well the Throne of Heroes does contain every heroic spirit from every timeline, from every world, but how can you be recorded if you're not the real one?"

"Who says an imitation cannot be more real than the real one?" Cu Chulainn did not grin. There was only an impassive look on his face that did not show anything. "I was born from the feelings of Medb in an another possibility, where she made a wish on a grail. 'To make a Cu Chulainn who was able to stand besides me as an equal'. Under that delusion I was created."

"Huh?"

"Let's put it this way Master." Avenger appeared holding her standard. "If Medb was summoned in a grail war Cu Chulainn will not have a 100% of appearing, but if this Cu Chulainn was summoned then Medb will have an absolute appearance. This fake version of the Hound of Ulster was created under the delusion of that pink haired slut under the wish for someone that would be with her.

His existence is what caused the slut to appear here simply. If you want me to put this in a gag wrenching, but even more of a simple explanation it is because of the power of love."

"I don't understand what you mean by this Cu Chulainn though, but is the part where Berserker acts as a catalyst to summon Medb correct?"

"Yes, but to think we actually called out the real Medb!" She laughed vigorously. "Cu Chulainn you really did attract the ladies here. The Godslayer and the Celts' Super Bitch, I wonder who's next? The goddess of death or the princess?"

"..."

"Silent are we? Hmph, what a bore." She sniffed and turned away from the blue haired man. "You need to be dere when it counts or else your character won't be interesting."

Issei stared at the girl who had short blonde hair that was a shade away from white. Her yellow eyes turned to him with a menacing stare.

"Why are you here right now Avenger?" Issei asked. His question wasn't said rudely, but rather he was just curious. They usually stayed out of each other's time with Issei.

"He and I are the same. We might as well get the whole thing out." Jeanne rolled her eyes at that man who stayed silent. "First off we are not the real Cu Chulainn or Jeanne D'Arc. We could be categorized as Alters."

"Alters?"

"Inversed personality of heroic spirits usually of the good alignment." She explained. "We actually were in our own grail war in a different world and we managed to be recorded within the Throne. Jeanne D'Arc is a Saint, there's no way she can be me and there is no way for the Hound of Ulster to be him. We have the common starting point of being created from the delusions of a person who was closely connected to our original selves."

"Medb with Berserker and you with…?" Issei trailed off.

"Gilles de Rais although the chance of us meeting him is near zero." She waved his concern off. "Basically we're the fakes of the real thing."

"You're both different and your own person as a result." Issei concluded with a short nod. "So that means you deviated from the story after death?"

"You could put it that way." Jeanne smirked. "I am the Dragon Witch who rose from the dead to destroy France for vengeance and Berserker is the mad king who wolfed down the land of America."

"America? Isn't that way after his time?"

"Don't worry about it master. You'll get a headache." She patted his head teasingly.

"Okay, but Avenger didn't I tell you to stop calling me master?" Issei asked rather sternly. "What happened to kid?"

"Sorry, I'll make sure to remember next time." Jeanne started to leave, but then she turned her head to Berserker. "Cu Chulainn shouldn't you cut to the chase already. It isn't really like you to be hesitant."

"I'm simply a weapon, any personal feeling I have doesn't matter when it comes to Master's command." The warrior stated closing his eyes.

"What a tsundere." She scoffed and left.

"What?" Issei stared at the spot where the girl vanished. He turned his head towards the man. "Berserker? Wah!"

He felt rough hands brush against his hair gently.

"Thank you boy for protecting her. She was an annoying woman, but at her last moments she did fulfill her duty well." Cu Chulainn sighed, but Issei could tell that he was happy.

"Now off with you boy." Cu Chulainn summoned his spear and planted it on the ground. "She's waiting."

* * *

The light of dawn seeped into the church painting the interior in the color of golden orange. On the front row of the rotting pews was the boy and the girl who lightly played with his hair.

"So I guess it's morning." Chocolate brown irises revealed itself as it met the melted gold in her eyes. "Did you sleep?"

"I'm more surprised that you didn't headbutt me like last time. Isn't supposed to be a cliche in a romcom?" Medb replied back with a grin.

"Did Ruby tell you that? We're not even in a romcom." The boy sighed. "So, did you sleep?"

"No. I had enough of sleep for now." Medb replied back. "Ruby decided to keep me company for the night. Ddraig came around a few hours before you woke up. They told me a lot about this world. It really did change when I was gone."

"Well a culture shock is natural considering your situation." Issei tried to move, but winced. "It seems like I can't even move my body right now. Do you mind if we stay like this for a bit longer?"

"Not at all Sei." She brushed back her hair. "I don't mind at all."

They stared at each other in silence. Unlike the time in the classroom it seemed a bit more tense than before.

"Is there anything wrong?" Medb asked him as Issei fidgeted. "Don't tell me? Have you fallen for me?"

"No." Issei quickly shot her down. "It's just uncomfortable I guess."

"Uncomfortable?" She tilted her head. "Ah don't tell me, you're blushing. Your weak with girls aren't you? What an unexpected character trait you have."

"It's not that. It's just that I've never had a lap pillow before." Issei blushed. "It's a bit embarrassing I guess?"

"I guess? You've been saying that a lot Sei." Medb teased him and lightly poked his cheek. "You're a bit different now. Can we blame this on a case of ooc?"

"Ruby has been teaching you a lot of unnecessary things." Issei grumbled. "Well what do you expect? I wasn't born in a tribe of warriors or have the blood of the gods within my vein. I only fought for three weeks, in order to live. I spent the rest of my life in normalcy."

"I'm afraid that's something I can't understand." The girl looked up. "My life was battles after battles. To fight and hope you would die a glorious death to reach a beautiful fight victoriously is more important than living in th end."

To burn up like fireworks. A magnificent but an incredibly short life.

"I can't really understand that way of life, but I won't judge you for it." Issei said softly. "After all it's what you chose in the end. But I do have one question for you."

"Thank you Sei. What is your question?" She looked back down staring at his averted eyes.

"Are you going to see him?" He looked into her eyes, into the pool of molten gold. "Cu Chulainn."

"... I'm not that sure." Medb admitted looking hesitant with her decision. "I do want to meet him, but right now I'm hesitant. Scathach, what she said. Was it true? I'm not sure of my own feelings right now, it's too much to bear."

"I see." Issei closed his eyes in response. "You have a week till the ritual Medb. Take that week to decide what you want to do."

"You won't tell me to meet him?"

"It's what you chose in the end." Issei said firmly. "I won't judge you Medb since this is your second chance in life. Only you would know what to do in the end."

"..."

She kissed his forehead.

"What?!" Issei ended up jolting in surprise and landed on the floor with a loud bang.

"Thanks Sei." She grinned and got up. "We sure smell. Ruby do you have anything for me to bath with?"

"Huh?" Ruby yawned. "You want a shower? I think I have something. Ddraig!"

A large red and pink box appeared on top of Issei's chest.

"Ugh." Issei groaned from the sudden weight. "What is this?"

"It's the pressurized portable shower Little Tool modified after you modified it after she modified it." Ddraig said dully. "If I remember correctly one of the functions that was restored was a ribbon like tentacles that would cover and grope the skin of the victim. Little Tool said that it would cover the important parts to keep it T-rated."

"I thought I removed that function!" Issei screamed out cringing. "At this rate this is going to turn M-rated."

"Issei-chan don't underestimate me!" Ruby laughed like a stereotypical villain. "I live for fanservice! No, I am the fanservice function so strip!"

"You can't move Sei so I'll make sure to clean you up properly." Medb winked at him. She hoisted him up in a typical princess carry and started to walk outside. Ruby trailed behind carrying the shower.

"Please don't!" Issei screamed blushing.

* * *

"It seems like Scathach left the town." Aika Kiryuu talked on the phone nonchalantly. "I'm not sure if she'll come back to this town or not. I did confirmed one thing though. Queen Medb is still in this town."

"..."

"Don't get your panties in a twist boss." She put on her underwear as she laughed. "I don't think she'll put any sort of wrench into the plan you have. Her current container might be above the average human, but she can't do that much. The chance of the Godslayer coming back is high, so I suggest you don't order anything that drastic. The Gremory after all have their eyes on the lookout right now."

"..."

"Who?" She pulled up her skirt. "I don't know yet. It's too early to gather information and whoever it is made sure to hide their presence well. It could be a big shot with connections to high level magicians or a skilled magician itself. The point is I don't have the information you have."

"..."

"Incompetent? Man please don't treat me like this." Next was her legging. "After all who do you think managed to sneak those four fallen in? Too bad the Gremory failed to kill the last one, although I just took care of that last night. If you want to praise me then do so."

"..."

"You commend me?" She put on her shirt. "What a old fashioned compliment to say. Well, it suits someone like you who is very old-fashioned."

"..."

"Don't ask me to sneak you in. For someone with your reputation it'll be near impossible to smuggle you through." Aika opened her closet revealing guns of all sizes and containers of ammunition stacked up from the floor. From the side she picked up a derringer. "Don't you have your own connections?"

"..."

"Oh I forgot, you don't have any friends." She loaded her gun and put it in her purse. "I'll see what I can do. From what you want I guess you gathered everything?"

"..."

"You don't have everything?" She frowned, but then changed her expression to a more neutral one. "They're going to gather here? Seems like a coincidence... or not. You were never the type to leave everything to fate anyways. Give me a week or two and I'll figure something out."

The call was cut and she dialed another number.

"It seems like your colleague wants to come over to my place. I suggest you call your dog or that unruly reptile you have with you." She didn't bother saying hello. "The church will send out their minions too, so please tell them to come out at the last moment. After all heroes show up at the last minute don't they?"

"..."

"You can't do that? The broody bat is out searching for his missing teammates and the dog is out on a mission." She repeated what the person said flatly. "This is bad."

"..."

"Don't laugh!" She cut the call and threw her phone on the bed. "I do wonder what'll happen in Kuoh though. It seems like I'll be needing to gather information."

She looked at sky beyond her window.

* * *

 **And done! I still need to finish summer hw and school is starting soon. After this it'll be working time for me.**

 **Fate Lover: You are true regarding Hassan of Serenity, but the main reason I chose her was because her design was too cute. Also I wanted a female character that was a Hassan. No Face could fit that, but I don't want to keep track to 19 noble phantasm and also fate strange fake doesn't have a lot of the info I need to build her. Serenity on the other hand has her role in Camelot and I just got her profile translation. The percentage rate is because he hasn't really used the cards in a long time. Call him rusty, but after this it'll go up.**

 **PChesire: Hades is considered to be part of the top 10 strongest being so no. It's been said at full power Brynhild Romantia could kill Hel in one strike. The fight with the hero faction will be told later if I ever get there.**

 **Also since El Hunter asked me this and I answered him on it, Sapphire will most likely not make an appearance. I believe in the Ddraig and Ruby duo after all. Their friendship will overcome all. Serafall with Sapphire will defeat the point of the Ruby arc I have planning.**

 **Preview just because why not.**

" _You are my blood red knight. You are the traitorous knight that ended the golden age of his rule. You are my champion."_


	5. Prelude of the Storm

Maybe this time he would reach her. To trace the outline of the girl trapped in the beautifully designed stained glass. The image of the sleeping maiden that was at the bottom of his dreams. The water didn't seem to push him up this time, allowing him to slowly sink to his destination. Who was she?

It was a question that persisted for the past five years. She appeared on that day, but he knew nothing about her. Name, age, and even the color of her eyes. Rather than the princess of sleep, it was suited her more if she was called the princess of the glass coffin.

Maybe today he would finally reach the stained glass girl.

Suddenly the water pushed him up. It went up his nose and filled his lungs, but Issei didn't sink. He continued to float up until he reached the surface and began coughing. Water exited his mouth and entered the water.

"Issei you have to be patient. The time will come soon but until then you have to wait."

Someone appeared to lightly scold him.

The boy was a well tanned and looked a few year older than Issei. His white hair was tied into a long ponytail. He wore a samurai outfit, but there was a few western elements added. Amber eyes carried concern as the boy helped his master up.

He was the spirit of the ruler card, one of the two cards that Issei received from the mystic code that day. Bearing the name of Amakusa Shirou Tokisada, he led the Shimabara rebellion and created several miracles with his two hands. The boy who is a Saint by many, but was never canonized by the church.

"But when will that time come?" Issei asked.

The only thing he received as a reply was a small smile from the amber eyed boy.

"So are you going to train me in something?" Issei changed the topic. "Swordplay or theology?"

"We're not going to train today Issei." The boy ruffled Issei's hair gently. "I felt that you did enough for the week. How about you tell us what's been going on."

"Us?" Issei questioned him.

The water rippled and changed into a marble floor. Walls engraved in various images erupted from the newly made ground and a roof appeared with a ball of light hovering just under it, illuminating the room. In the center was a round wooden table with twelve chairs neatly pushed in.

"Camelot? Then this must be Saber's dream." Issei stared at the wooden table, now being used by two people.

Sitting next to each other was a young man and a young girl. Possessing green eyes and blonde hair, the man looked like he popped out of a fairy tale as the chivalrous knight. Wearing a blue and white armor, it further enforced the image of the kind, brave knight that would rescue the princess.

The girl who sat next to him was a girl around the same age as Issei. An elvin beauty found only in fantasy and her lilac hair and matching color eyes stared at him with happiness. If Issei were to describe her in one word then it would be pure, like the devil he saw before.

The man is King Arthur, the King of Knights and leader of the round table. The girl is Medea, the Witch of Betrayal whose legend is deeply connected the famed argonauts.

"Saber, Caster." Issei called out to them. "Wasn't there supposed to be a lottery on who was supposed to spend time with me?"

"I invited them here." Ruler clarified for Issei. "I was asking them on some subjects they happened to know of."

"Okay." Issei shrugged and walked to the table.

"Take a seat Issei." Ruler pulled out the chair next to him. Issei obliged and sat down.

Cups of tea appeared on the table, but for Issei a mug of hot chocolate appeared in front of him.

"I'm not a kid anymore." Issei slightly pouted after he took a sip of the warm drink. "Why can't I drink tea like you guys?"

"Don't you like hot chocolate though?" Caster asked. "You always asked for it."

"That's true." Issei muttered not being able to deny it. He did ask for it a lot back then, but now it just felt like they were treating him as a kid.

"Besides caffeine is bad for someone with a growing body." Saber chuckled and ruffled with Issei's hair. "We don't want your growth to be stunted or anything."

"What's with servants and their problem with ruffling my hair?." Issei grumbled.

They all just laughed in response.

"So it's been a week since Scathach left and I've been overworked by how many people wanted to fight against her." Issei sighed. "I'm also broke sadly since I've spent the remaining money I had restocking gems and buying materials for the ritual. Ruby will need to help me out on the stock market for a bit. Other than that, Ddraig has been teaching me about the history here and I did learn something interesting about your sword Saber."

"My sword?"

"Yes the famous sword of King Arthur, the sword of promised victory Excalibur. Apparently the history is a bit different from yours. The Excalibur here was not forged by the fae, it was one of the four swords created by the God of the Bible. Said to have seven different abilities, it was later broken after the death of King Arthur.

It seems that the church managed to reforge it under seven different swords called the Excalibur fragments. I don't really know the abilities but it seems the church carries six of them. The last one is probably with the Pendragon family."

"Is that so…" Saber gently rubbed his chin. "They seemed to have put my sword into use then. As my age past, humanity is free to do what they wish with it." The way he said was indeed cheerful and content, but they could all tell that he was mildly irritated by it.

"If it makes you feel better Saber, the Excalibur here has origins and abilities are different from yours. The history may be the same, but ultimately they are two different swords. This is a world separate from yours so there can be differences with the events and items here."

"Seems like you know a lot Mr. Magus." Caster teased.

"Don't call me that." Issei blushed and looked away. "I'm not really a magus and my elemental affinity isn't really suited for anything on it's own."

"You shouldn't put yourself in that sort of position Issei." Shirou comforted him. "You've created Prism field. To create a teleportation spell takes a lot of time of effort. It's reaches the realm of second magic so you're progressing just fine."

"I wonder if any of my other noble phantasms are different in the world?" Arthur mused to himself.

"You're actually bothered by it aren't you?" Issei said it flatly.

"Not really." The knight quickly denied it.

"..."

"..."

"..."

They all stared at him unconvinced by his claim.

"It's not like that. Maybe a bit, but I'm mainly wondering about my lance." Saber waved his hands in denial. "It has an important function to tie illusions and reality together."

"What? Are you saying your lance was able to access both the real and imaginary number plane?" Surprisingly it wasn't Issei who asked, rather it was Caster. "To connect the spirit and living together…"

"It's not anything like that. Considering that you're from the Age of Gods you probably don't know this term, but it's the anchor that holds the World and the Reverse Side of the World together."

Judging from their faces they were all unfamiliar of that term.

"When the age of the gods declined around Solomon's era the phantasmal beast who lived in the World decides to migrate somewhere else. They gave the earth to humanity and left to what we can call the end of the world." The King of Knights elaborated on the term. "That place is the reverse side of the world and Rhongomyniad ensures the stability between the two worlds."

"Interesting, so you're saying that the lance you wield holds the two world together?" The apocryphal saint asked the king.

"Yes." Saber confirmed.

"It explains why I'm unfamiliar with the term, but to think that someone holds such a powerful noble phantasm." Medea took a sip of her tea.

"Held. I'm a saber class servant so I only wield Excalibur as of now." Arthur corrected the female servant.

"I don't think Rhongomyniad here has that function." Issei spoke up. "The age of the gods never ended here so there is no purpose for phantasmal beasts to migrate to the reverse side of the world. I'm not even sure if that place even exists here. I'll ask Ddraig just in case."

"If that's true then I'm relieved." Saber took a sip of his now warm tea. "We don't have to worry about retrieving the lance in that case." He set down his teacup. "How is the ritual going by any chance? You did mention that you gathered the materials."

"Umm it ended being unsuccessful despite it working." Issei set down his cup. "Where should I begin with this?"

* * *

The scent of old books filled the air. Mixed together in the bookshelves were musty old tomes and dull red boxes neatly labeled about the contents inside. The antique furnitures clashed horribly with the gleaming tiled floor found in modern homes. A jewelry box was laid on the side revealing the valuable contents inside. Under the bright lighting a carved circle in the middle of the room glowed a violet light.

This place was Issei's workshop. Also known as an atelier, it is a place where a magus practices his/her mystery and realizes his/her experiments. Located in the near the outskirts of the town, this workshop in particular was a gift from the Wizard Marshall. Completely furnished and stocked with a limited supply of jewels, this was in fact a congratulations present for taking on the field of jewelcraft.

There was also a note taped on the door that mentioned something about not taking projection (tracing). Issei discarded the note, unsure of what even the term meant.

"We managed to complete this ritual in four days and it's under the expected budget. Medb is also willing to participate… This is too good to be true." Issei stared at the circle that was drawn out perfectly. Medb, the subject, stood in the center holding a capsule machine.

"Hey, I'm offended by that! I'm not the type of girl that would be hesitant in anything for too long, after all I am a former queen." She declared holding up and oddly-shaped capsule machine in the air. "By the way, do I need to keep holding onto this thing?"

"Well it's nice to see that you recovered. Also you can place it on the front right there." Issei directed her to the circle that was left empty inside. "So shall we start the ritual? If anything goes wrong I'll blame Ddraig."

"..." Ddraig just sighed in response. "...Why?"

"Didn't you say it before? Dragon's often attract fortune, so it could go either way right? Misfortune or fortune, your luck only achieves things that has an extremely low possibility of happening." Ruby stated. "So rather than good or bad, we can classify your luck as miraculous."

"What she said. Okay then Medb, we will start... now!" Issei started to chant.

The circle shined; the light it let out would've blinded anyone, but he continued to chant. Mana from the air became visible as mist and it curled around Medb. The circle began to shine brighter and brighter until…

BOOM.

THe circle exploded. Issei was sent back to the wall and he knocked over the apothecary drawer upon impact. Herbs and precious metals of various sorts scattered on the floor.

"I knew something was going to happen." Issei muttered as he pulled himself up. "Ruby can you turn on the ventilation system?"

"On it Issei-chan!" The star ornament chirped. The vents opened and within a minute the smoke cleared.

"Medb are you okay?" Issei called out.

"Okay?! Look at me Sei!" She yelled, or rather squeaked.

Issei obliged and looked at the center of the circle. Gone was the beautiful youth and in her place was a chibi. Currently the size of a small figurine, she pointed at herself in outrage.

"What's with this body Sei?! How are we even going to do it?" She screamed, but due to her small size it sounded like someone was squeezing a rubber ducky. "I demand to know what went wrong with this ritual!"

"Whew at least this part went correctly." Issei picked her up, and ignored her complaints. "Now we just need to dig a bit deeper to find out what went wrong."

"What?! What do you mean that this is correct?! I'm a chibi! Tell me what is not wrong with that!" She tried to punch him, but considering her body now it didn't amount to much.

"She knows what chibi is so I assume her knowledge is also updated." Ruby noted, the mystic code hovered near the miniature girl. "Spiritual bodies isn't really my specialty Issei-chan. You'll need to handle this."

"Tell me what's going on!" She abandoned all her maturity and started to throw a tantrum like a child. "I need to know why my body is super deformed!"

"Alright, alright Medb. I'll tell you so just be patient while I scan you on what went wrong."

" _Breathe, let the blood circulate within the vessel."_ Five gemstones of different colors dropped from his hand. They fell, surrounding the miniature girl. Multiple formulas bloomed out like petals with Medb in the center of this mystical flower.

"So the main problem was that you needed a stronger and stable container. Turning you into a full servant would've put a whole lot of strain on me so I needed to lower the quality of the Saint Graph. The solution was using this joke grail." He pointed to the capsule machine that was on the floor.

"In a certain world, something similar was used to produce capsule servant. This is more of a hollow out and fake version I made to help with the ritual formula I'm using."

"Are you telling me that this is completely intentional and it's definitely your fault that my body is now like this?" She crossed her tiny arms.

"Yes, but you should be able to turn back to normal for a certain period of time." Issei looked through the data he was given from the analysis he did. "You should at least have that function but… hmmm seems like you can't right now. I thought things were going to well."

"You found out what went wrong. Is it time to blame Ddraig?" Ruby asked, excited about this outcome.

"No. We can't blame Ddraig for this, rather it's more of Medb's fault." Issei placed a bright green emerald on the table. "It seems like we're going to have to go on a field trip soon."

" _Breathe, suck in the air._ " The emerald sucked in all the formulas that converged around the miniature girl. The five gemstones were left with a dull color and it meant that they were out of prana.

"What do you mean it's my fault?" Her anger was replaced with mild curiosity.

"Your saint graph is incomplete. For this to be successful we need to recover all the spiritual essence you've left behind. I'm pretty sure it happened during your escape. In other words… we're going to have to visit Scathach." Issei made a face. "This is going to be awkward."

* * *

"So I've decided that we're going to visit the Land of Shadows during golden week, which is coming up in a week or two." Issei took a sip of his cocoa. "I didn't manage to contact Scathach yet, but the problem is how to get there. If I manage to get lucky in the stock market I could visit Ireland, but I'm not sure if I could explain to my parents about why we suddenly need to get passports."

"You said that Medb left parts of her spiritual body behind right?" Caster was the first to speak up. Considering that her specialty was in magecraft it wasn't really surprising to hear her come up with an idea.

"Yeah…" Issei trailed off, unsure of where this conversation was heading to.

"Can't you just use that to trace where the Haunted Realm is? Just use dowsing to find the location and use prism field." She offered an idea.

"That's... a pretty good idea. My dowsing skills could use a bit of work, but it should be possible."

The three heroic spirits stared at the boy who was currently lost in his own thoughts. Words and terms relating to money, magecraft, and maps left his mouth. This continued on a couple of minutes.

"I need to go." Issei got up from his chair, "It was nice talking to you guys."

"Wait." Ruler called out to him. Issei turned back to stare at the boy.

"I know you want to raise up the synchronicity levels, but try to be careful. Using the servants with divinities in them could alert other pantheons." The youth warned his master.

"I know that Ruler. Having the pantheons on us is the last thing we need right now. I'll also make sure to not use the cards in front of anyone that holds a close connection. Don't worry about it too much since I'll mostly be doing it in my workshop. Thanks for the warning, I really appreciate it."

Issei vanished leaving the three servants at the table.

* * *

"I'm going to be late at this rate!" Issei bit on his toast as he ran on the sidewalk.

"Issei-chan we all know how this gag is going to happen." Ruby sighed. "You're going to make it in time and collapse the moment you reach class, but before that happens the president will glare at you when you pass the school gate."

"I'm more impressed that the devils managed to rebuild the school in a short amount of time." Medb muttered. She had the ability to go into spiritual form now, but she was currently sitting on the boy's shoulder.

"You're wrong about that Medb-chan." Ruby called from below. "The devils set up a field that had a replica of the entire town. I'm not sure how they managed to do it, but it's pretty impressive. Well it's currently off, but I suspect that they could activate it at any time."

"I don't think that will happen." Issei disagreed with Ruby's first statement. "Ever since last week they've all been ignoring me. Sona stopped doing her eye glare at me. I'm pretty sure any sort of friendship I had with them is ruined."

Asia of course is the exception, but considering her personality it wasn't something to be surprised about. After all in terms of mental state, Asia is the most inhuman of them all.

He stopped in front of the level crossing that was currently lowering the bars.

On a side note this track here was built fairly recently, about seven years ago to be exact. Due to the noise that the train makes housing here tends to cheap when compared to the ones up the hill.

"I'm surprised that you haven't realized it yet Issei-chan. Could you really be this dense or did we do a good job?" Ruby interrupted the boy's thoughts.

"What are you talking about Ruby?" Pulled out his thoughts Issei asked the mystic code.

"Didn't you think it was odd that Medb despite having no knowledge of the modern world was able to speak fluently in Japanese?" Ruby posed a question.

"Now that I think about it, yes. How did you manage to speak in Japanese?" He turned his head to face the tiny servant. "If you just escaped from the Land of Shadows then how did you managed to learn the language? I know we were to busy running for our lives to mind the culture, but how did you managed to learn the language."

"What are you talking about Sei? I spoke in my own language and you managed to speak back fluently. The devils have an inherent translating function within them, so I thought you managed to replicate that or something?" She tilted her head. "Don't tell me you didn't?"

"Eh. I didn't even study the devils so something like that would be impossible for me. So how did I…" He turned to Ruby.

"Silly Issei-chan, you should be thanking both Ddraig and I!" Ruby said this in a rather haughty tone. She would probably be floating with confetti in the air and wearing a king's crown if it wasn't for the fact that she was currently tied to his pants. "We embedded a secret microchip in your head that enables you to understand all languages and think they are in should count yourself lucky Issei-chan. Only a few rare contractors of mine managed to receive this special privilege. Hu hu hu hu hu hu hu."

"You're kidding right…?"

"Little Tool is joking Partner. Furthermore, you should be only thanking me for the translation. I just happened to use our connection to transmit knowledge to you based on the function of prism trace."

Prism trance is one of the many common abilities shared by the kaleidostick series. It allows the wielder to access the knowledge and skills of the personality, but for safety reasons the knowledge is held at the short term memory section of the brain. There has been incidents in the past where users ended up going mad from the sudden fill of knowledge or ended up being taken over by the alternate's personality. Kaleidostick Ruby possess the unique function of form change which calls for some totally awesome transformations.

"Ruby, why are you narrating?" Issei stared at the ornament.

"... No reason." Ruby said this in a rather suspicious tone, but Issei chose to ignore what she just said. He had something else to ask.

"Isn't that like you're controlling my mind? Sacred Gears actually has that sort of ability?"

"Well to be honest, technically, if you are emotionally vulnerable you'll fall under juggernaut drive and could potentially destroy several cities at the cost of your life. I didn't use that method obviously. I took more of the advantage of the contract you had with Ruby and implanted some of my knowledge into your mind. It's just that in order to cope with the sudden information, you just perceived what she said as Japanese." Ddraig explained this casually. "You already had a pathway to your mind open due to Ruby, I just took advantage of that path."

"That actually sounds really dangerous. What if some random enemy took advantage of that to make me believe I was on their side?"

The train rushed past them as he said his dangerous theory.

"I doubt that would happen. They would need to enter a master servant contract with you to take advantage in that in the first place." Ruby easily refuted his claim. "The only people who could do that would be Ddraig, the servants, and I. The function uses some pretty powerful mysteries so it would be hard to overturn it. Furthermore Ddraig acts as a guardian making it pretty hard to bypass him. It's not that much of a weakness as you think it is Issei-chan. Don't forget I was created by the second sorcerer so I also have functions to stop such situations."

"If you say so then." Issei shrugged. The level crossing began raising it bars and he walked over the tracks.

"Hey Issei." Issei turned around to see a fist heading towards his face. Medb quickly shifted into spiritual form.

Reacting quickly he took a step back, but tripped when his feet hit the tracks. His butt landed on the gravel and with a loud smack someone fell on top of him.

"Saji why did you trip and fall on me?" Issei groaned in pain. "Owwwwwww."

"I didn't expect you to dodge my punch!" The blonde boy complained.

"Can you get off of me? We're almost two inches away from kissing." It was true considering that Saji was dangerously close to the brunette. "I don't want this to enter the yaoi route."

"The fuck." Saji lifted himself up, he also held out his hand towards Issei. "I don't want to be paired with you either."

Issei took his hand and got up.

"I feel the same, but why did you try to punch me?" The moment Issei said, that he received a punch to the face. The impact sent him sprawling on the tracks. "Oww what was that for?"

"For hurting my friends." Tone harsh, Saji spat out those words. "You deserved a punch for that."

"What did you expect Saji? I'll willingly hand Medb over to you? Circumstance led to us fight at the opposite sides. I don't really have a grudge over you or your friends for beating me up." Issei argued.

"Still you deserve a punch anyways after all I just can't let that slide." Saji shot back, but then his expression softened. "Thanks for not killing them. I really do care about those guys." He hugged Issei which the boy led to cry 'no homo'.

"What are you saying no homo, you retard!" He punched Issei on the head. "It's just a sign of thanks. We're still friends aren't we?"

Issei froze. Warmth filled his chest as he looked away from his friend. Cheeks slightly flushed from the last words said.

He didn't really expect Saji to still consider him a friend after that.

"Oh shit! Kaichou is going to kill us." Saji started to run and looked back at Issei who didn't move. "What are you standing around here for!? We're going to be late!"

"That's right Issei-chan! The gag is going to fail at this rate." Ruby yelled.

"You heard the star Issei. Run!" Saji and Issei ran.

They ended up barely making it on time like always, but right now Issei felt a bit lighter.

* * *

"I really do wonder when will the day you're actually late come." Aika poked the sweating body of Issei Hyoudou with the sharp tip of her pencil. "Are you dead or can you listen to me?"

"Why are those the two options?" Issei propped his head up on the desk. "Isn't that a bit weird?"

"Not at all Hyoudou because if you can't talk to me then there's no point in being my friend. Isn't that right Asia-chan?" Aika grabbed Asia and started to rub her face against the blonde. "The only reason why I'm friends with you is because of the information I could extract from you. Also because I'm too kind for my own good."

"Why is the last part an after thought?" Issei lightly tsukkomied her since he was too tired to yell.

"By the way Hyoudou, I heard that you managed to hook up with a super hot foreigner that could give Rias a run for her money." Aika leaned close to him grinning. "Mind elaborating on what I heard?"

"Hot foreigner? Who told you this anyways?" Inwardly Issei cursed. Obviously she was talking about Medb, but how did Aika managed to find out about her?

"I heard this from the perverted duo. Despite their future prospects as men behind bars, they are pretty good at information gathering. Of course they are way below compared to my skills, but that's mainly due to them embellishing on what they seen or heard. This mysterious, pink haired, yellow eyed girl with the goddess like body could actually be a girl above average in the looks department." Aika with her pencil used the eraser tip to bring Issei head up to face hers. "If you manage to explain the situation I will be kind enough to 'convince' the two perverts to lay off the rumor mill. They can be quite persuasive with the student populace despite their horrible reputation."

It was obvious to see that her method of convincing was blackmail and thinly veiled threats. Issei felt compelled to tell her a bit of information in order to keep his reputation mostly intact. If only, at least, to grant him a day of peace.

"It just so happens that the girl you mentioned is my online buddy that decided to visit Japan. She just visited to see me since Tokyo is about an hour away on train. She's gone now so don't really expect to see her again." Issei shrugged with a it can't be helped position. "She's from Ireland and happens to be a big fan of otome games."

"Hmmm okay then." Aika moved back to her desk, but before she did that… "You must've been really good friends with her to go bra shopping. Don't ask me why the perverts were there, but they did see you holding up a bra high up in the air.."

"Eh, don't tell me they saw that?!" Issei whispered. Upon seeing Aika's nod his face turned into a tomato and he starting to flail around. "You better shut them up Kiryuu!"

"Don't worry I will Issei, but I think they told people other than me. I hear that the kendo club muttering about how a certain male seems dead set on getting laid." Aika sauntered to door. "I'll shut the duo up, but I do wonder on how many people will hear about this little shopping experience before then."

Aika laughed and left. Issei collapsed on his desk with Asia hovering around him panicked on what to do.

* * *

Kiba was currently at the top of the hill that Kuoh had. Commonly known as the Kuoh hill, this place is often used as a hiking place by the elderly or people trying to work out. Busy during the weekend, it seems that nobody besides him was here today.

He clutched the empty letter in his hand. At first glance it looked like the stereotypical love letter you would find in manga and anime, but there was a name on it. It wasn't addressed to Kiba Yuuto, but it was definitely addressed to him.

Isaiah.

It was the name he left behind. The name that carried too much memories and burden.

The place covered in too much snow. Blood red footprints that deeply contrasted with the pure white landscape.

Behind that scenery, back at the sterile white lab, were corpses of his fellow orphans.

He shook that thought out of his head.

In his other hand he held up a photo. It was a picture of a crystal containing particles of light within, like small fireflies trapped within a glass container.

He recognized this gem. It wasn't even a gem, but it was the goal. The mad dream that the man hoped to accomplish.

He crumbled the photo. A silent rage ignited within him, when he saw it. Was the church restarting the Holy Sword Project again? Kiba didn't know, but he knew one thing. He would kill the sender.

"Sorry I'm a bit late Isaiah-sama." A girl hiked up to the peak of the hill. She wasn't late, rather she was right on time. "I had to handle some issues that arrived on my side."

She was dressed in a sorceress-like outfit and wore a blue witch's hat and a matching cape embroidered in flowers. The girl might've been seen as mystical if it wasn't for her cheerful smile that wouldn't be out of place at a cosplay convention.

"I forgot to introduce myself." She talked to herself, slightly flustered by her own blunder. "My name is Le Fay Pendragon. Isaiah-sama will you leave the Gremory family and work for me for a small amount of time?"

"...What?" Kiba was stunned by her question. It was ridiculous, no, mad for him to leave the Gremory family. "No I have to refuse. Leave or else I'll kill you."

"Such a gentleman aren't you?" The girl known as Le Fay said without a hint of sarcasm. "I forgot to add something in the offer."

She pulled out a large blue crystal from her pocket. It was the size of a fist and it glowed a pale light.

"Where did you get that?" A pure black sword appeared and he switched his stance to a ready position.

It was obvious that silent rage filled his eyes as he glared at the witch.

"You recognize it Isaiah-sama." Kiba twitched. She began to walk around him holding the crystal up into the air. "Isaiah, surname unknown. An orphan from Russia and raised in church with the other participants for the holy sword project. Of course they were all children because children are the ideal test subjects to use. They are pure, untainted from the desires of man and are easy to manipulate."

"Yes…" Kiba lowered his sword. "At first it was just that they required some of our fluids. They just took it and gave us food in exchange. We all thought it was the best choice we made because we weren't hungry anymore. We didn't have to live out in the winter cold to freeze and spend days begging others for food, but it changed later. The experiments grew harsher and even if they gave us food we all lost our appetites, sleep was impossible due to the pain."

"Behind it all was a man named Valper Galilei, the genocidal archbishop. A man of god who had an unusual fascination to the sword of Arthur. His experiments were inhuman and cruel and when exposed he was trialed for his crimes. Alas it was too late for all the children who were slaughtered in a last ditch effort to hide his sins." Le Fay stopped. "I didn't expect you to recognize this, but it seems like you did. How is that?"

"During the first few attempts crystals like that appeared like when they experimented on my friends." Kiba stated. "Are you telling me that they are restarting the project?"

"No, the church did managed to refine the data they got from the experiments making the procedure safe. Of course the holy swords wielders created from this new method were created for the purpose of wielding the Excalibur fragments." Le Fay shrugged seeing Kiba bristle and the mention of the sword. "I don't see why you really hate the swords. Care to explain?

"That man had a strange obsession for those fragments. The experiments started because he wanted to wield them so much." Kiba gripped his sword tighter and tighter. "I hate those swords because it was because of them that my friends died!"

His own nails dug into skin causing blood to drip onto the ground. Just how much did this side of Kiba Yuuto go? Was the kind, princely side of him just a mask?

"Well that won't do Isaiah-sama. You need to let go your hatred for inanimate objects. Excalibur is simply a weapon, a tool to be used. Wouldn't you hate the man that started it Isaiah? You are really kind aren't you, to place your grudge somewhere else." She said these word politely without a hint of sarcasm or malice. "If you want to help me then I suggest you let go of your hate for these swords."

She went up to him, confident that the boy would help her for sure.

"I never said I would help you." Kiba with remarkable speed stabbed the girl. He watched her body slide down the sword and rest still on the ground. "Too bad Pendragon. You should've just followed my advice."

"I think it was a rather good idea that I didn't." He felt something cold on his neck. The curses that leaked out wanted to make him vomit. Kiba created demonic swords, but this sword behind him was a step, no a leap above what he could do. "I could see how you would react. I never expected you to be so emotional."

Kiba didn't look back, but instead he watched in mild fascination as the corpse in front of him bursted into golden petals which were picked up by the non-existent wind.. They danced in the air, carrying the blue crystal to the girl behind him.

"So shall we talk like sensible people or do want to get stabbed?" Le Fay asked Kiba. Despite the fact that Kiba had tried to kill her, she never once did drop her polite tone.

Kiba dropped his sword and raised his hands. Slowly he turned around to face the witch. Ever smiling, Le Fay Pendragon lowered her sword.

"It seems you haven't realized it yet Isaiah-sama."

"What do you mean I haven't realized it yet?" Kiba asked trying his best to keep his temper in check.

"This light crystal was made from the extracted light essence of the original children who died that day." Le Fay held out the crystal towards him. "Do finally realize it?"

His breath hitched and Kiba made an attempt to grab it. Le Fay jumped back and threw it up in the air. Forming a magic circle the crystal disappeared.

"I suggest you don't try to touch it unless you want to die." Le Fay formed another magic circle and the crystal reappeared in her hand. "You can cry and beg your god to grant you this miracle, but it'll never happen. You body is too tainted to hold something filled with light, well... unless you had my help."

Her smile which had the feeling of politeness was long gone. The air of cheer vanished leaving something much more sinister in its place.

"How did you managed to get this? That man would be the one who had it and he ran from his execution and hid. The church with all their efforts couldn't find him."

"Yes the church wasn't able to find him, but do you realize who you're talking to? I inherited the name of the infamous witch, the title of Le Fay. Finding him wasn't really that hard for me." Despite her words she did not boast. It was stated casually like she was reciting common information.

She removed her hat and held it with two fingers from the tip. Lightly shaking it a head fell out and landed on the ground. Kiba recognized the corpse, even if ages passed and time altered the appearance it was that man.

"I killed him and took this." Le Fay put her hat back on.

Like a magician after a performance, she did a small curtsy in front of Kiba.

"So are you willing to join me?" She let go of her sword letting it disappear and held out her hand. "In order to get back their last will. Their small legacy they left for this big big world.

The girl with the smile of a devil offered a deal. Now it just depended on what the boy would choose.

* * *

"So school is over, but what's with everybody being busy with their own thing? Asia and Saji left me at lunch saying that they had student council or club issues to deal with. Kiba apparently isn't even at school and Aika left early because of a family emergency. There was no one for me to talk to during lunch. Does this mean I'm unpopular?" Issei complained as he walked home.

"I don't think that you're unpopular Partner, but have you really talked to anyone besides them?" Ddraig asked his master.

"... Did I?" Issei muttered to himself.

The only people at school he interacted strongly was with those people. In Kuoh Academy you were stuck in the room while the teacher traveled to the classroom. A result of that cliques formed within the classroom, and it was hard to join another group due the social values inputted into them.

"Why did you hang out with Mr. Prince in the first place Issei-chan? You were never really friends, but why did you stay with him?" Ruby asked. "I mean you don't consider him to be a friend due to your bond level not being high enough, but why did you talk to him in the first place?"

"That's true. I was the one who decided to talk to him and got this whole thing going, but it was because he looked alone." Issei explained. "I don't think he realized it himself, but he seems to hold people at a certain distance. He was always polite, but putting it in reverse it meant that he never was really honest with himself.

Kiba Yuuto never opened his heart. There was always some sort of tension between him and everybody. It was covered by his princely aura, but it was there. When I was with him it felt like he was preparing himself for the fact that I could disappear at any moment."

"He hardens his heart to prepare for the loss of something precious. The problem is that he doesn't know when it's going to happen." Medb entered in on the conversation.

"Yes exactly that. He doesn't want to be hurt so he tries to prevent it from happening in the first place." Issei held a grey quartz in the air. The orange sun seemed to mix the drab color with it's own light. "He would be an expert at betrayal if he tried. Since he tries to decrease the amount of ties he has, it makes it easier to move around."

Issei walked into the market district in Kuoh and headed to the jewelry shop. The wind chime rang when magical boy opened the door. The man was about to give a polite greeting, before curling his lips in irritation upon seeing who the customer was.

"It's you again kid. Are you going to rip me off of my money again?" The man grumbled.

"Not my fault that you're trying to sell me low quality gems for a high price." Issei sneered. "I only bought it for the correct amount."

"Issei-chan's cheap side is appearing. Reminds me of Rin with her cheapskate attitude." Ruby muttered far too low for anyone to hear. "Those were horrible times."

"Now show me what you got old man. I'll see what's bargain and what's not." Issei cracked his knuckles, his grin was similar to a certain god slayer's. "By the end of it I'll expose that most of your gems should actually be cheaper than they are right now."

"Try me kid." The man grinned. "I managed to to appraise these babies super accurately. You can't go any lower than what I have."

"If I didn't know any better I would've thought Partner's origin is stinginess." Ddrig muttered, his voice too low for anyone to hear.

"I've never expected Sei to have this side of him." Medb muttered, but since she was in spiritual form nobody except for Issei heard her.

Thirty minutes later...

"You should raise the prices of these gems old man. You're wasting good money if you made them these price. These are freshwater pearls not saltwater pearls! Make sure you change dealers or talk to your supplier about this. These are natural gemstones so make sure to raise them higher. You're going to be swindled at this rate. Also may I have these amythest for a cheaper price? You're not going to find any buyers who want this sort of shade." Issei finished collecting five gemstones and fifteen piece of quartz. "Go work on your appraisal skills a bit more. At this rate you'll run out of business."

"Get out of my store kid! You're ruining my business." The man stuck out his tongue. "Also the amber you commissioned should be done in two days. Make sure to come back."

"Thanks old man." Issei opened the door. "I'll come back to get it soon. Make sure to take care of your high blood pressure."

"Don't bother about my health kid!"

Issei laughed and close the door. He stuffed his newly bought jewel in Ddraig and walked to his house.

"I managed to get a good haul today." Issei cheered. "I'm lucky that the old man also works as a jewelry maker. I get cut gems for a cheap price!"

"Aren't we broke?" The welsh dragon asked.

"Yeah didn't we waste all the materials we had on my ritual?" Medb added.

"Turns out during school the stock prices on oil increased! I'm thankful for the paranoid oil dealers. I was able to sell my stocks at an outrageous price." Issei grinned. "I'm rich again!"

"Issei-chan I just connected to the stock market. Umm… I think your investment on the diamonds are going to fail…" Ruby drooped her wings.

"What?! What happened?!" Issei reached out to his phone and quickly scrolled through the news. "Blood diamonds… I really have the worst luck don't I? Well we have to cut our losses and move on, I'll have to rethink of my plans tonight for the stock market."

"...Partner is really is passionate when it comes to money." Ddraig sighed. "Well nobody is perfect I guess."

"I find that part ot be very cute." Medb squealed.

"I do wonder where Issei-chan inherited this trait. It makes him seem more like Rin. Now that think about it isn't Sapphire with Rin right now? Wait... it was a boy named Rin, never mind." The kaleidostick muttered.

"Do you have any food?" A weak voice was heard from behind.

Issei turned around to see a blonde foreigner looking with blue eyes looking at him weakly. It seems that as each second past she complexion seemed paler and her breath grew ragged.

"Kind soul I ask of you if you have any food." She moved closer to him.

"Please I'm hungry"

She then fell flat on the floor.

* * *

Reeling back time to when school was in session.

"Where are we?" Kiba asked the girl.

"We're in the new district. The one where all the new houses are being built." She clarified it for him and they walked up the stairs. "It was hard even with my connections to find a house to buy here. Gremory-sama and Sitri-sama made sure to give anyone moving in background checks so it was quite difficult for me to infiltrate."

"I'm not surprised. I've weeded out a couple of spies before." Kiba commented idly. "With the ground here being distorted it's really tempting for people to come in. Even with the claim staked by us."

"Us? You definitely integrated yourself into devil kind." Le Fay noted.

"They rescued me and enabled me to walk on my own feet." Kiba replied.

"And yet you're betraying them?" The descendant of the witch asked.

"You already know why." Kiba said this evenly, but there were hint of guilt in his eyes. "I can't fully live until they can rest peacefully."

Le Fay did not reply instead they stopped in front of a door.

"This is one of the spare bedrooms. I converted it to an atelier so I can work out experiments." She opened the door and walked in. Kiba followed her slightly wary.

The room was neatly organized. Staves, various wands, and a sword hanged up on the wall. At the opposite end there was a small desk with small cauldrons, test tubes, and flasks that were neatly cleaned and were drying on the rack. Near it was a cup board that contained additional glassware as well as thermometers and stirring rods. Above it was a cork board with various notes pinned up on it.

The window had the curtains shut and various magic circles moved around the room embedded in the walls. Kiba noticed a small bookcase by the door with tomes and grimoires written in various languages.

"Your bedroom is on the right and I have the master bedroom so it's at the end of the hall." Le Fay informed him as she led him to the surgery table that stood in the center of the room.

"What are you going to do with me?" Kiba asked suspiciously as he gave a glance at the sterile, metal table.

"Isaiah-sama if you have any second thoughts it's too late to back out now. After all you now know where I live so I can't let you go free right here." She continued to smile and Kiba felt his body slowly moving against his will.

"When did you?" Kiba barely managed to get the words out of his mouth. Talking was difficult, his body was acting against him. He lost control of his body to this girl in front of him.

"You let your guard down in the park Isaiah-sama. I suppose getting emotional does dull the senses. Next time have a calm and level head when you confront with someone." She cheerfully gave him advice as Kiba laid himself on top of the surgery table.

Kiba eyes held nothing but anger as he glared at the witch in front of him. She didn't show any hurtful expression and her smile never faltered. She summoned circles that bound his arms and legs and released the spell that controlled his body.

"I would prefer the first spell, but it does break when the victim receives a large amount of pain. I'm afraid I'm going to have to bind you during your surgery." She explained.

"..."

She stuffed a towel in his mouth and pulled out an ornate scissor from a nearby tray. Kiba's eyes widened as the scissors cut through his shirt revealing bare skin underneath.

"Isaiah-sama I'll need you to become my Mordred. The champion of the evil witch who wants the throne more than anything from Arthur. Be my Knight of Treachery and topple the throne of Camelot. We'll kill the bitch called Nimue and forever destroy his legacy." Her face was dangerously close to his as she pulled out her scalpel and drove it deep in his flesh causing the crimson liquid to flow out.

Kiba screamed through his towel and attempted to headbutt the girl, but a magic circle appeared and bound his neck in place.

"Mordred-sama don't be like that now." She said it teasingly as she made another another deep cut in his skin. "The price to use your friends will be your pain. I'll gladly take it now~."

A circle was carved deeply in his skin creating the base of the magic circle.

"The price of gaining power will be the blood and tears you shed Mordred-sama." She whispered in his ear as another cut appeared on his chest.

Her pace increased and Kiba screams became louder and sharper.

Another slash.

Kiba cried from the pain. Tears fell from his cheeks to his chest mingling with his blood.

Almost like an artist the girl wielded her scalpel like it was a paintbrush. Using his body as a canvas, a masterpiece began to form.

"Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama, Mordred-sama."

She chanted as the blood began to pool on the floor.

"You are my blood red knight. You are the traitorous knight that ended the golden age of his rule. You are my champion."

Kiba endured it or rather he was forced to. Each stroke magnified the pain by ten and the circles that bound him kept him conscious. He could only let out a guttural cry as the torture began to intensify.

Finally after a grueling hour she set down her scalpel.

"We're done."

Kiba's vision began to blur and soon he blacked out.

"I'll save you." Not sure if he imagined it or not, the boy slept. "I'll free you from your prison… Brother."

* * *

 **That's a wrap guys. Hope you guys like on how this story is going so far. I'm a fan of reviews so I hope you leave more. Fate Lover you always ask a whole lot of questions which I really appreciate.**

 **Maive is another way to pronounce Medb. I just made Scathach pronounce it like that since I thought it suited her. The princess that Avenger mentioned before is Emer, Cu Chulainn's wife.**

 **I hope I cleared up the misunderstanding with prism field. It's something of my own creation so don't kill me over it. The mirror world is something that will be mentioned on later in the story, but the spell to enter it was mirror road or something like that.**

 **I'll add some of my own things to the story, but I'll try to be faithful to the nasuverse as much as possible. DxDverse is a different story however.**

 **Example would be like Time Alter destroys the body when used or Shirou's magic is actually called projection. Blood adoption is not a painless procedure and unless you want your character to be raped by worms I suggest you do not make your character inherit anyone's crests if not blood related.**

 **Also another interesting thing is that Scathach's second NP Gate of Skye is a magical vacuum to her realm that will kill anybody that gets sucked in. Magic and Luck is needed to resist it and even if the target managed to resist it, they will take major damage and experience rapid mana drain. Also she could decide who to let in or not. Thank BL for this translation.**

 **Leave reviews please. I discovered how much I like them. The more constructive criticism you put, the better.**


	6. The Visitor

It was already sunset when Kiba came to be. Through the open window of the newly furnished bedroom the orange light shined, bathing the room within its warmth. He made an attempt to get up, but a delicate hand reached out to stop him.

"Mordred-sama I suggest you don't do that." Le Fay warned him. "You still need to rest after that procedure."

"I'm not Mordred." Kiba growled. He slapped her hand away.

It irritated him to no end. The deep cuts she carved on him still ached as he glared at the girl. Still the polite cheerful smile did not disappear, despite his actions.

"But you are." She leaned close to him, too close in fact, and spoke into his ear. "You're not Kiba or Isaiah anymore. To save what's left of your friends, you've taken up the role of the traitorous knight haven't you?"

The subtle scent of roses emanated from the girl. The slight breeze wafted the sweet scent to fill the entire room. It threatened to intoxicate him and the weight in his stomach seemed to have increased.

"What's your purpose of recruiting me into this? Why go through all this effort?" He asked the witch.

"Shouldn't you be thanking me instead of questioning me? I did fulfill my part of the deal." She trailed her fingers along his chest, right up to the center of his collar bone. She lightly tapped the foreign object that was embedded in his chest.

Kiba glanced down and saw that she was tapping the familiar light crystal, but within it was a crimson knight piece. It was his evil piece, the proof that he was a devil.

"How?!" Looking up he saw her smile. While it was bright and pleasant, a hint of pride could be seen within her grin.

"I inherited the name of Le Fay. Don't underestimate my skills Mordred-sama." She gently put his hand over his stomach. "The procedure earlier was a method to make your body withstand the light element. If it wasn't for the fact that you were already closely connected with your fallen friends, you would've died."

Such a feat would've been able to win her the head seat of the Golden Dawn organization and yet she spoke it casually as if it was nothing.

Kiba gently touched the concentrated light element. He didn't feel any pain at all when he touched it, in fact his body seemed to be lighter.

"What do you want me to do?" He looked up to the smiling witch. "Why me in the first place?"

"You were chosen Mordred-sama. I'm Le Fay after all, it's my duty to make you king isn't it?" She tilted her head in genuine confusion. "You will take the throne under my guide."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Kiba covered the crystal with his hand. "You do have a plan correct?"

He himself had no desire to be Mordred or take anyone's throne, but this girl… She seemed to be stuffing her wild fantasies into him. There was no choice but to press on when handling her.

"Of course I do. We need to retrieve the right of kingship, the symbol that represented Arthur's rule. The sword of promised victory is what you need Mordred-sama."

"The rest of the fragments were under the guard of the church. It's impossible for someone like me to get passed the security they placed." The knight tilted his head. "You should rethink your plans a bit more."

"Don't worry about that Mordred-sama, someone already has stolen the rest of the pieces. He is already in Kuoh plotting and waiting for his grand plan to come into fruition. We'll just have to steal it from him." She clapped his hand to emphasize how easy the problem is. "After that we'll start the ritual and make you king.

There was so many things wrong with what she said, but the excaliburs were stolen? That was an impossibility in itself. The level of security guarding the sword was unbelievable in the first place. Just who could have stolen the sword in the first place?

"Also I prepared a failsafe just in case you betray me Mordred-sama." Le Fay held up a mirror to Kiba's neck and he the insignia of a golden rose tattooed onto his skin. "This mark is a sign of your oath. I fulfilled my part of the deal and you have to fulfills your side. Just remember this condition, no matter what you'll help me complete Excalibur." She gestured to her chest, right above the breasts was the same mark. "So do your best okay."

Her laughter was similar to the peal of bells, bright and melodious. She dropped the mirror and it broke into pieces. The sharp shards morphed into golden petals and surrounded them, glowing in an eerily light.

"If you ever break the contract the consequence is…" She trailed off, staring at the jewel. "That the light crystal will blacken from your evil piece and break. Whatever's left of their legacy, will be destroyed by your own hands. As our story is filled with betrayal, don't you think that this is a perfect safeguard?"

"You bitch!" Kiba yelled. His feeling went on overdrive, a trigger was fired. Just as he thought he could save them, they were once again in danger.

Immediately black briars extended from the mark and bound the boy in place. He gave one last glare to the witch before she knocked him out with a single formula.

"Good night Mordred-sama." She gently lowered the boy. "I wonder if you'll you become the substitute? Can my brother be saved by doing this? I don't know, but this is the only option left since I'm running out of time myself."

The petal gathered forming a single golden rose. Holding it in her hand, she placed it on his chest, just right above the gleaming crystal.

With that she left and closed the door.

* * *

Issei despite his previous actions, was the type of person that normally let things flow at it's own course. Unless it was related to the moonlit world or his field of research, Issei wasn't the type that would actively try to go against the flow.

Which led him to this situation.

"Thank you for helping me Issei Hyoudou. Once I find a church in the area I'll promise to pray to the Lord to grant you his blessings." The blonde foreigner declared as she bit into her food. Despite her chowing down as quickly as possible, her table manners still were fairly decent. Still, Issei had to flick a bit of the fried egg of his shirt that flew from her mouth.

They were in a family restaurant in the market area. It was pretty popular hangout spot for some of the high school students that didn't go to Kuoh. It explained why there was many teenagers eating here right now, but Issei felt mildly uncomfortable from the attention they were receiving. He knew that it was mainly from the girl right in front of him who was really attractive, but it still didn't make him feel any better.

"There's no problem at all, I was just surprised that you collapsed on me? Do you happen to be out of money during your mission?" Issei hoped that she was just a nun on a mission. If she was fighter hoping to defeat him then this would be a pain. Maybe he could just leave it to devils to handle this? They did handle some of the recent incidents regarding the influx of people challenging him.

She did seem familiar to him, but he couldn't exactly place why. Well at least he had a feeling that she wasn't here to fight him.

"I'm not a nun, but I am on a mission Issei Hyoudou." She replied cheerfully. "Don't worry, I'm just here to investigate a revelation I had from God."

He never told her his name, but considering the recent stream of fighters that challenged him it wasn't really surprising. He didn't bother being shocked after the fifth person who knew his name tried to kill him. Still what she said was unnerving. Not the fact that she knew his name, but the other part.

"But isn't God…" Issei trailed off unsure of what to say. It was during a recent history lesson that he had with Ddraig when he found out the truth. The God of the bible died near the end of great war. Did this girl happened to know the truth?

"Dead?" The girl finished with a slight frown. "That's why I'm here."

"And you need my help?" Issei frowned. "I'm not really a charity so I can't help you out with this. I don't really want to make those in charge of this land more mad at me than before."

"Umm it's not help to assist in investigation, but can you help me exchange money?" She opened her bag and pulled out a thick roll of euros. "I didn't come here legally and I'm also here undercover so can you help a girl out?" She brightly smiled at the end.

Well it wasn't anything illegal for the most part and it didn't really count as aid her investigation.

"Just reimburse me for the meal and we'll call it a deal." Issei waved his hand for the waiter. "Check please."

"Wait don't! I didn't finish my meal yet!"

"May we have take-out boxes then?"

They stepped into dark street carrying their take out boxes. Despite it being dark, it wasn't really that late yet. The bank would still be open allowing Issei to exchange the currency.

"What was the exchange rate from euros to yen again?" Issei asked the girl. "I remember it was 111 or something like that."

"I'm an exorcist serving god so I wouldn't know." The blonde girl winked at him. Issei could imagine stars coming out of her eyes as she did that.

"An exorcist?" Issei muttered. "Well it explains the clothing at least."

Her clothing wasn't of that of a nun's habit, but it was pretty similar to one. It fit up to modern trends, but it was plain in color and design. While it would look strange on others, it suited her rather well.

"Did you think I was a nun?" She laughed at her own question. "I could be one if I wanted to be. Shouldn't you be checking the conversion rate right now?"

"Ruby."

"I'm checking right now Issei-chan. It seems like the market today has a currency rate of 115." Ruby reported.

"Is…" She glanced to the side. Her face lost it's joyful expression. Turning her body, she summoned a sword to her hand and threw it.

Said sword collided with another blade and it broke into tiny shrapnels, threatening to embed itself into the attacker. Immediately the assailant raised something to block the deadly fragments.

"Don't tell me it's another person who wants to challenge me." Issei groaned. "Ddraig take in the takeout. We need to handle this enemy."

"Partner, I refuse to be used as a pantry. Portable showers are one thing, but food…"

"Just suck it!" Ruby cried and shoved the takeout box into Ddraig. "Don't bother to report this to PETA Issei-chan. Ddraig is a proud mighty dragon, not just some animal that needs protecting."

Issei blinked. He blinked again. Raising his hand to cover his face, he sighed. "Can't you guys just get along for once?"

"No." They both said this in unison.

"Oi oi don't ignore me Issei Hyoudou." The assailant appeared from the shadows.

He held a broadsword on one hand and a shield strapped to his other arm. He reminded Issei of a G.I. Joe action figure, if G.I. Joe decided to ditch his guns for primitive weapons. Other than that there was also metallic chains wrapped around his body. Judging from the design Issei thought that it could be a mystic code or something similar.

"I as well Sir Issei." A girl appeared carrying a black violin case. She was younger than the man and looked like a princess that has left a certain fairy tale. She had short blue hair cut in a small bob and her eyes were the color of cut emeralds. The dress she wore looked expensive, probably far more than what Issei had just spent earlier at the jewelry shop. "In the name of my family I will challenge you to this duel."

"Oh they're your enemy." The exorcist summoned her sword. "Do you want me to help you Issei Hyoudou?"

Asking for her help would mean that he would have to pay her back eventually. While her help would be appreciated, it could become a potential problem later. Issei considered his options before coming to a decision.

"Nah. I'm fine with you staying at the sidelines." He responded. He then turned to the two assailant at the front. "So do you mind introducing yourselves?"

"Arrieta Silvercup." The girl curtsied. "And the brute right next to me is Hans, my servant. We will kill you now Issei Hyoudou, Champion of the Shadow, and your death will surely bring great honor to my family." She took a single step forward and pointed at him. "Hans do it."

The chains that bound him started to unravel. It trailed onto the floor with loud rings. The man himself cracked his back in preparation to battle.

"This is getting annoying." Issei muttered. "Transform, Prisma Issei."

Hans charged. He moved at such a fast speed that seemed to betray the body of his build.

Issei outfit changed to that of his usual embarrassing outfit. Wielding Ruby, he placed several diamond shaped shields in front of him.

The clear sound of a violin rang in the air. Immediately the shields began to crack and Issei began to look at the source. It was the girl with the open case, holding a violin in her hands.

"Anti-magic? No, it couldn't be that." Issei muttered. He dodged a punch from Hans and sent out a beam.

She played a single note. The blast disappeared like it never existed in the first place.

Taking advantage of the surprise Hans swung his sword at the boy. The magical boy was sent flying back, and Issei clutched Ruby extra tight.

"OW!" Ruby cried out. She turned her body to face Issei, despite the fact that she couldn't make expression it was obvious that she was mad. "Issei-chan don't you dare use me to block a weapon ever again. It hurted way too much!"

"Aren't you built to handle it though?" Issei asked. Despite the casual reply it was obvious to see that his hands was shaking from the attack.

'Dodge!' Medb shouted. Well it wasn't technically a shout since she was in spiritual form. To be correct she communicated through the mental connection she had with Issei.

Faster than shout in the real number plane, Issei reacted and moved away in time to avoid a sword thrust. He threw Ruby to the man and threw a pale white quartz at the man.

" _Breath._ " Immediately after it left his hand, the quartz shattered expelling pure white smoke into the air.

" _Breathe, expel air from the lungs_."

Taking advantage of the situation he created, Issei pulled out several gems from Ddraig and carried them between his fingers. Throwing them into the air they started to shoot themselves towards the man. Each gem moved at the speed of a bullet ready to explode with the same amount of destruction of a grenade.

A simple tune was played from the violin. Immediately the gems dropped to the ground losing the inertia it had before in flight.

"What?! My gems!" Issei yelled before it turned to a yelp when his body suddenly veered to the left, barely avoiding another blow.

'Sei, jump.' She commanded.

Immediately Issei jumped barely avoiding a chain that was about to swing around his legs.

'Alluring voice!" Issei saw the servant status update. 'Wasn't all your skills sealed?"

'Apparently not.' She replied. 'You should also move to the left by the way.'

His body jerked to the left, avoiding another blow. He jabbed his thumb into a pressure point on the arm. Hans quickly jumped back upon reaction to the pain and cradled his damaged hand.

"Ruby!" Issei yelled out.

"Yes yes I'm here! Your one and only wand." Issei quickly grabbed the wand and held it out the two opponents.

"Are you sure you don't need my help?" The girl stepped forward. Wielding an ornate rapier she stepped forward. "You look like you do?"

As much as Issei hated it he probably didn't have a choice. They must've gathered information on him and used it to their advantage, which was troublesome. To use troublesome was an understatement, but at this rate he would lose. He glanced at the girl and came to a decision.

"Handle the girl." Issei said

"Alrighty!" She grinned and several white swords erupted from the ground. "Leave it to me!"

She ran to the girl, but with how graceful she moved it seemed like she was skating. She pulled out a sword from nowhere and held it ready into position. In response the noble lady played a different piece on her violin. Six blades, lacking hilts, of various lengths flew out from under her dress. They danced in the air counteracting every blow that the exorcist sent.

"Issei Hyoudou don't forget who you're fighting." Hans rushed in to deal another blow to the boy. The magical boy sent back a blast to block it. This time the attack veered of course and exploded on the ground sending chunks of asphalt into the air. Issei sent another blast to only have it move in a random direction and it crashed into a lightpost leaving a large section of it missing.

"My attacks are now being redirected?" Issei moved to the side and avoided the sword thrust. Unfortunately on his part he went to the hand where the shield was and Hans swiftly moved his arm to hit him. A blow stuck to the face Issei fell on the floor.

Rolling to the side he barely managed to avoid the sword that dug into the ground just two inches from him. Issei winced as he began to feel the pain in his jaw. Thankfully the automatic defense managed to shield most of the damage, but it seemed like his face was going to bruise.

'Medb can you use your skill on others.'

'It'll be weaker than what I could do with you.' She replied. 'This form really restricts me Sei. Can't we go get my remaining part already?'

'We'll talk about that later! For now we'll do this.' Issei quickly explained his plan to her.

"Ruby, we'll have to break Ruler's promise. Get ready to include." Issei pulled out a familiar card. "Include Avenger."

The red wand was covered in chains. Pure black and red flames started to wrap itself around the wand as it got longer and longer. The chains burned away to reveal black and violet sword with engravings on the blade.

"Feel the wrath of a witch." Issei raised his sword and eight pikes fell from the heavens at a frightening speed.

The burly man spotted it and started to move away. He raised his shield up into the air just in case he needed to deflect any of the pike managed to get close.

"Put down your shield."

"What?!" For the first time Hans displayed shock as his arm jerked to the side and left his body vulnerable. He didn't have time to place the shield up again. Eight pure black pikes fell from the sky and slashed his body leaving vertical cuts. Even before he could hit the floor the man knew that he lost.

The battle was over.

"We should call the hospital right now." Pulling out a cell phone he started to dial the emergency number. Before he could raise the phone to his ear, a slender rapier pierced through the phone, breaking it in half. Turning to the side he saw the exorcist looking at him with obvious distrust.

At her side there Arrieta Silvercup laid on the floor unconscious. The noblewoman's dress was slightly torn at the bottom and there was a deep cut on her right arm. Other than that she looked fine, but her violin was cut in half.

"If you don't want me to call the hospital then we can use my jewels." Issei lightly stated. He held his sword out as the pikes began to multiply and fire bloomed from the tip. "Or is it something else?"

"That blade. Just who are you Issei Hyoudou?" Swords of the holy element began to sprout from the ground like newborn shoots. They grew surrounding the girl, forming a barrier made of holy swords. "This cannot be possible. Just how are you possessing the spirit of the girl from Domrémy?"

There was two ways that someone could find out the cards in this world. First one was that if the servant carried divinity that would alert the respective pantheon. Second was that they possessed a close connection to the servant itself.

"Shit." Issei cursed. The sense of familiarity, a revelation. A girl who knew that god was dead could be a person that carried a close connection with god.

His sword wobbled and the pikes themselves started to crumble away in black particles.

"Are you Jeanne D'Arc?" He'd been careless. The opponents today, asking her for help, and now he had been caught. He can't pass Avenger as a 2nd transformation sequence as Ruby so eloquently put for the devils.

"No I'm not Jeanne D'Arc, but as the girl who inherited her spirit and name I am Jeanne D'Arc." The exorcist gave a cryptic answer and walked towards him. "Now answer my question Issei Hyoudou. How do you create this contradiction? How did you manage to corrupt her sword? Answer my Issei Hyoudou unless you want to die."

She figured it out. There was only one option left for him.

"How about we discuss this over take-out? The park is nearby." He pointed to the general area where the park is. "But before that we need to heal these people first." He used his head to subtly point it at the two injured opponents.

* * *

He arrived to the play it seemed. On the stage were automations covered in a ceramic shells that were meant to substitute as an actor. In the orchestra pit there were more automations in fancy suits and dresses frozen in time.

This was a dream, Kiba duly realized this. His head was throbbing slightly, but not to the point where it was unbearable. He kept scratching the golden mark, unaware of the blood that slightly flowed down his hand.

"Ya'know you do realize that scratching that won't do anything. You'll only hurt yourself further." Someone said right next to him. Turning around Kiba found himself at the audience seats with a child at his side. The red chair did mask the blood it soaked up, but the child looked at him disapprovingly nevertheless.

"Isn't this a dream though?"

"Is there any point to still do it?" The child responded with another question.

Kiba conceded and stopped scratching it. Immediately the wound healed itself, not leaving even a scar.

"Better." The child turned to the stage and began to much on some popcorn. Their voice lacked any clue to their gender. Their body tend looked androgynous so it was hard to tell their gender. Also the hospital gown they wore was baggy and it covered any features of their gender.

"Were you also a someone from the holy sword project?" Kiba asked. The hospital gown they wore was eerily similar to the one he wore from that time, but Kiba couldn't remember a child like that in the project.

"Yes." The child replied. "But we're not here to talk about the project ya'know."

"Then why are we here in this theater?" Kiba asked the child.

"We don't know. You dreamt up of this theater ya'know." The child responded. "There must be a reason why you thought it was a fitting place for yourself."

Before Kiba could respond the boy pointed pointed to the lifeless actors that were beginning to move.

"The play is about to start." The boy began to throw pieces of popcorn into his mouth. "It might be interesting or not, but it's your dream. We think you should watch it ya'know." Everything they said carried the air of childish superiority, like they knew some secret that Kiba didn't.

Kiba turned to watch the play. He watch the automations begin to move and at the center of the theater was himself.

"I'm a not a bastard and yet I wish I was one. The cruel fate that leads to such an ending was caused by this cursed blood that runs in my vein. The blood of my mother and father is the same for they are kin. Such a forbidden action of incest was due to my mother's greed. Her lust to rule overpowered her sense of self. She raised me in secret telling me of her plot to rule the overcome my father using me.

Furthermore can I be really considered to be a human? I was created through such a sinful lust and was incubated in my mother's womb along with black magic. Am I a male or a female? I do not know of it because I was never born to be human. I was born to be a king, but do I have the right to rule as someone not human?

A person without gender, an artificial human created by sin and dark magic, rather than a knight I'm nothing more than a devil in disguise. I carried those insecurities with me as I joined the round table under my mother's recommendation. I served the table diligently, I remember drinking as equal at the table. Smiling as my fellow knights cheered after a successful knight in battle, laughing in joy as the kingdom prospered. I loved me father so.

And yet I destroyed all of that. I led a rebellion that would crush the beautiful legend that was my father. I stole his sword and used it for my own selfish deeds. And finally I killed my beloved father in the battle of Camlann. I detested my father at the same time.

Perhaps it was because of these contradictory feelings that led to the end.

I am the son of the great king of knights and I and yet I am the knight of treachery who tarnished his legend and ended the age of a great kingdom. I ask of you who am I? I am indeed Mordred, but who am I?

The Kiba on stage froze.

"Ya'know you've been given a question." The child sipped on a bit of soda. "Are you going to answer it?"

"What is the meaning of this dream?" Kiba asked. "Why am I seeing this?"

"We wouldn't know, it's your dream." The child replied. "We're a guide, we could only lead the way."

"A guide for what?"

"You've been given a name haven't you. Specifically a name that holds a considerable weight." The child placed their drink and popcorn on the seat right to them. "To give something a name is to give it an existence. Well that's the only clue we could give."

"Who are you?"

"We don't have a name right now, but since we're acting as a guide Virgil should be fine." The child got off of their seat and turned their back on the knight. "Now then we'll ask you a question. Who are you?"

Kiba saw himself at the audience seat looking at him at the stage.

"I'm-"

Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba, Mordred, Isaiah, Kiba-

"Eh." He grasped his head. The dull ache became fierce and his head pounded in pain intensely with each second. "I'm…"

"Don't forget who you are." A cool hand touched his head and suddenly the pain vanished. The child looked up at the boy. "Now wake up."

Kiba exited the dream to find a new mark surrounding the gem. A golden rose with black briers surrounding it.

* * *

"To think that you would take their violin." Jeanne sniffed as she sat down across from Issei. "Are you nothing, but a common thief?"

"I'd never heard you say something that should be said in the medieval ages." Issei retorted. "It's serves as a warning to others that their precious items will be taken if they lose against me."

He even had to use his precious jewels to heal them. Well he still had his stock he recently bought, but he was currently out of jewels that were usable. The one that fell on the ground had their prana drained making them effectively useless.

"I changed my mind you're more like a dragon collecting items for his hoard." Jeanne shot back. "What do you even plan to do with that?"

"Study it and see if I can recreate it." Issei replied. "It'll probably take me a while, but I can figure out why my spells went haywire when I fought against them."

"That's a pretty good idea." She conceded and then sighed. "A weapon with artificial intelligence, a mid-tier longinus weapon, and you who somehow managed to get a duplicate but corrupted soul of the Maid of Orleans. If I wasn't undercover I would ask you to join my organization."

"Well I'm not interested in joining any organizations." Issei said. "I'm not really part of the celtic pantheon since Scathach just forced the title on me anyways."

"Don't you also have Queen Medb as your ally?" Jeanne asked. "If you used your title more, it's possible to build your own faction."

"Not interested in creating a faction." Issei took a bit of his meal. "It's a pain to maintain and I rather focused on getting a job and perfecting my magecraft. Also Medb is too weak to fight right now."

"Hey I object to that!" She quickly dug into Issei's meal as well. "I did help in the battle."

"Well it explains why you suck at it." Jeanne took a bite of her own meal. "I mean if that violin was able to interfere with your spells then you must really suck at magic."

"You know what the violin does?" Issei quickly leaned over to her. "Can you tell me then?"

"You never bother telling me about why you possess Jeanne D'Arc's soul." The female exorcist summoned a very small blunt blade and poked his cheeks with it. She smiled as she did this, but it carried poorly concealed anger as well. "Do you mind if you get to that first."

"That… give me a moment."

Issei said and quickly turned back to face Medb who was on top of Ruby, Ruby, and Ddraig.

"Hey guys what do we do? Telling her the entire story won't be good."

"Don't ask me I'm just a stick."

"I'm just a sacred gear."

"And I'm just a queen."

"Not former?" Ruby asked her.

"Not former." She agreed, nodding her head. "We will figure something out on my declaration."

"We could just drug her with my medicine." Ruby said. "Machines are more of Sapphire's speciality so we can't use a brainwashing machine."

"Where did you sticks even learn to do this." Ddraig asked. "I question your creator."

"We're getting off topic guys!" Issei whispered loudly. "So what should we tell her?"

"Seduce her." Medb answered with a straight face. "Seduce her so hard that she'll be distracted from what matters."

"No!"

"Are you guys done?" The exorcist asked. She had emptied her take out box and was now looking at them.

"Yes we are." Issei packed up his take out box and set it aside. He took a deep breathe and explained everything. "The soul I wield is not the genuine Jeanne D'Arc. It's just a counterfeit that was given to me."

It was the truth, but it wasn't the whole truth. Issei wasn't sure that he could lie against this girl so this was the best option he had.

"By who?"

"By the same man who gave Ruby to me." Issei pointed to the stick. Before she could respond he quickly spoke again. "And no I do not know where this man could be."

He would have to apologize to Ruby's creator later, but that would be when the man bothered to show up. For now shifting the blame is the best choice for him and his health. If he had to explain about the grail…. Oops that would be giving out too much now.

"Now that I've explained everything can we go the bank." Issei stood up carrying Medb on his shoulder. "We can make it in time if we go now."

"Well I guess that's enough for now. We'll talk more about this later, but for now I'll tell you of your incompetence." She threw her takeout box into the trash bin. Turning around to face him, she grinned. "Time for a lecture."

Issei swore that he saw stars and sparkles in her eyes.

* * *

"Hyoudou is the champion of Scathach. I didn't really want to believe in something like that happening, but with this town it's expected. It still doesn't change the fact that this is a headache." Aika complained to the woman in front of her.

She had just learned the information just recently, but wanted to make sure. Asking Hyoudou was just to confirm the information she received. As much as she disliked it, it was the truth and she could only trudge forward. Which didn't explain the foreigner in front of her.

The woman was beautiful, with sapphire eyes and long blonde hair that trailed onto the floor. The air around her could be described as friendly as she covered her mouth to hide her giggles. An older-sister and ojou-sama character type she contrasted strongly against Aika's character.

"Isn't this what we call the springtime of youth? How nice to be young Ai." The woman smiled, it was truly a kind smile, but it felt revolting to Aika. "The drama in highschool cure could be intense. Just make sure to be strong about it and you'll be fine."

Aika rolled her eyes and sighed. Lavinia Reni, the person that her boss, Azazel, sent to help the spy with her mission. Wielder of the Longinus-class sacred gear, Absolute Demise. A witch and a member of Grau Zauberer, she is also an expert in magic. She was also a person that Aika had bad compatibility with.

"How do you even know that term in the first place? Also you're in your early twenties so don't talk like that." Aika retorted, rolling her eyes while she crossed her arms. "I regret calling you, always putting your nose into other people's business."

Her kindness and cheerfulness bothered her. It was different from Asia considering that the nun's personality was unnatural. Asia saw what kind of person you were in an instant, seeing your true nature. Lavinia was like a fine surgeon that slowly cut through the heart open to reveal the hidden depths in front of everyone.

It bothered her. That slow approach that almost seemed deliberate. That method was...

The knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. Opening the door, it was her mother waiting in the front.

"I brought some tea. I'm afraid that I only have green tea Ms. Reni, are you fine with that?" Aika's mom spoke fluent english without even the slightest hint of an accent. She stepped into the room with a small tray holding steaming mugs of tea. On the side there was a few rice crackers along with store bought chips.

"I'm fine with it Ms. Kiryuu and you can call me Lavinia since I'm not that much older than your daughter." Lavinia replied in english, but there were traces of a German accent. "Your speak English rather well. Do you work as a translator?"

"My husband and I both work as translator. We don't often have time to spend with our daughter so we're grateful to you for being friends with her." She bowed her head. "Enjoy your stay here in Kuoh."

"Mom when you leave can you please close the door?" Aika called out to her mom.

"Sure thing." With that Aika's mother left and quietly shut the the door.

"Now back to business." Aika shook her head and opened the manila folder in front of her. "Besides Issei Hyoudou being the champion of the Immortal Witch, it seems like we found a missing Pendragon Sibling. Congrats to me I guess."

"Shouldn't we call Val then? You don't need me if you managed to call him about it." Lavinia suggested. "You don't really like me, so I understand if you ask me to leave."

"Nah, it's too much of a pain to call him at this stage." Aika took a sip of her tea. "We need to be subtle with our mission and at this point Vali could only charge into this town which breaks any sign of stealth."

Lavinia followed, but she sip her tea with grace. Aika eyed her with something similar to mild irritation.

"Is there something I did wrong?" The blonde foreigner set down her mug.

"Not really. It's more of my dissatisfaction that there isn't a hot guy available right now. " Aika set down her mug with a bit of force.

"You don't need to subtly put in your reason." The woman said this a bit dejectedly.

"Anyways minus my irritation about the lack of dongs, I need your skills." Aika laid out more files on the table. "I'm pretty sure Lucifer or Ikuse are also capable, but alas in my case beggars can't be choosers."

"Why did you call me here early?" Lavinia wisely chose to ignore what Aika said. "I thought the plan was supposed to start in a few weeks. Was there any change to the plan?"

"Oh that? I don't feel like telling you the reason, but since we're working together I guess I have no choice." Aika sighed. For her it was just irritating to be with this woman. "I said that Issei Hyoudou has been chosen as the champion of the Shadow. This has caused an influx of 'brave' warriors entering here from all over the world to try to challenge Hyoudou. Most of them have been taken care of by the devils though."

"Why travel to such unstable political territory to defeat a boy?" Lavinia mused. "That's a pretty idiotic thing to do on their part."

"I chalk it up to typical warrior pride. Issei is probably is now a well wanted man in the supernatural world. I assume the devils are trying their best to hide further information on Issei Hyoudou, but they're under suspicions too." Aika munched on a cracker. "Scathach's announcement shocked all the warriors in the world because it meant that she officially respects someone as a fighter. Maybe they hope that defeating him would earn them the title or a chance to train under the warrior maiden.

Well the increase of visitors provided an early opportunity for me to bring you guys into this town. Besides that have you've been informed of the mission by the Otaku?"

"Azazel? No I haven't. He said that it be a surprise and wanted you to tell me. Are we going to be stopping Kokabiel?"

"Nope. Azazel asked me to take advantage of the situation and investigate the land during the chaos. I already came up with my own theory, but you're here to brush up on the details and investigate the other parts I don't know of."

"With your ability isn't that a bit impossible for you to not know anything?" Surprise laced in her tone, Lavinia had the faintest expression of shock.

"Not if I don't have all the pieces. Like gemstones I could only see the pieces from refined product, not the dirt covered ores." Aika set down her cracker. "I need you to explain to me some concepts I don't know. Are you willing to help me?" She extended a new cracker towards the blonde hair woman.

"I will." The wielder of the ice longinus accepted the rice cracker.

"Now shall I explain my theory?"

* * *

 **Done! This was such a pain in the ass to write. I swear I changed my drafts ten times before settling on this one. My whole plan for this arc is ruined and it might be longer than what I intended for it to be. Well whatever I'll figure everything out soon.**

 **Now here we are with almost everybody. The other actors need to head to the stage before starting everything, but alas I suck at writing so it might take some time. Anyways I do realize that I need to edit my stories some bit like add a transformation sequence to Issei installing Avenger, but that's for later.**

 **Any questions PM me. Yes Head of the Experiments was Valper. It depends on whose miracle is it.**

 **Next chapter maybe I'll get to the truth about the land.**

 **Next chapter will be longer I swear.**


	7. The Rewrite

**Yeah guys the rewrite is under the new name of scarlet dragon. Hope you visit that!**


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